LIBRARY OF 

REV.F.B.CHERINGTON,D.D. 



No.. 




Qass_ % 



BROADCAST. 



BY 



NEHEMIAH ADAMS, D. D. 




BOSTON: 
TICKNOR AND FIELDS. 
1865. 



'~2^ 






6 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

NEHEMIAH ADAMS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the'District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 






University Press: 

Welch, Bigelow, and Company, 

Cambridge. 



y1|l|ijip) HE author of these pages has been 
in the habit of putting down, in 
the briefest form, such of his own 
reflections as might serve him for 
hints in preaching. Having answered this 
purpose, the thought occurred of making se- 
lections from them and turning them into 
their present shape and use. 



Boston, Dec. 17, 1862. 



Broadcast. 



IGHT is sown for the righteous." It 
is the destiny of the good to be happy- 
forever, with no mixed conditions, as 
Imagine fields over which you are to 
sown with light, which springs up in 
countless forms of beauty, — an interminable 
succession of bright visions. Such is the good 
man's future. — " And gladness for the up- 
right in heart." 




SUCCESS in worldly affairs is not inconsist- 
ent with eminent goodness and the appro- 
bation of God. " And David went on and grew 
great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him." 



8 BROADCAST. 

"fTPVEEY came to the sepulchre bringing 
JL the spices," to prepare the body of 
Jesus for a longer sleep. Simple, affectionate, 
and yet unbelieving women ! He was risen. 
Some of our actions are of this mixed char- 
acter. But those imperfect yet loving friends 
were kindly treated. The tomb had angels in 
it. These women were made the first heralds 
to the world of Jesus and the resurrection. 
Our labors may be erroneous, superserviceable, 
and mixed with unbelief; yet nothing is lost 
when done for Christ. 



"X It TILL be your rereward." Be not 
▼ ¥ afraid of drawing back, of unex- 
pected assaults, consequences of acts repented 
of, forsaken, and forgiven. The "rereward" 
is of special use by night. It is night with 
us continually, as to unseen dangers. If you 
press forward after God, he will not only " go 
before you," but be "your rereward." 



BROADCAST. 9 

"/^VBTAINED promises." This cannot 
V^/ mean, obtained their fulfilment ; — 
but they who are here spoken of, by their 
faith in God led Him to make promises to 
them. He was^ pleased with their spirit and 
behavior, and in consequence promised them 
surprising blessings. Witness Abraham, Jacob, 
David, Solomon, Hannah, and others. 



THE sight of a great procession, or 
crowd, stirs up feelings of love, at times, 
in every good mind. Each of this multitude 
is as precious to God as I. Each has a his- 
tory, a present experience, a destiny ; God 
knows each, — his name, abode, calling, his 
character. Each had a parentage, an infancy, 
a home ; there are those to whom he is dear. 
It is good to look on great companies of our 
fellow-men. It makes us humble, benevo- 
lent ; it makes us feel our need of the partic- 
ular love and care of God. 
l* 



10 BROADCAST. 

IF heaven were apparent, desires for it 
might be less pure. Its external glory 
and beauty, its rest, its society, its pleasures, 
might abate our pursuit of holiness, which we 
now feel is the chief characteristic of the 
place. It would also, perhaps, too much abate 
the fear of death, which now has a controlling 
influence upon us. " We walk by faith, not 
by sight." 



" ATTMIOU sowest not that body that shall 
JL be." Strange that one who has seen 
an ear of corn with its wrappings, its silk, its 
rows of kernels on the large, hard cob, all 
from one grain, which " cannot bear fruit 
except it die," can be an unbeliever in the 
resurrection. Moreover, such things in na- 
ture should make us exult in the thought of 
future bodies immeasurably in advance of the 
present. " It doth not yet appear what we 
shall be." But "we shall be like Him." 



BROADCAST, 11 

IT is greatly helpful, and encouraging too, 
to read God's remonstrances and upbraid- 
ings at Israel's departures from Him, his ear- 
nest wishes that they had continued faithful, 
and his promises if they will return, — all de- 
signed to show us what it is which God de- 
sires in us, these things being recorded not as 
mere chronicles, but to instruct the world by 
illustration rather than by a code of dry, ab- 
stract rules. 



TT^HOU wilt make all his bed in his 
JL sickness." Some expressions of con- 
descension on the part of God, like some 
acts of the same kind on the part of the 
Saviour, are beyond our conception. But let 
ns not be faithless, but believing. We must 
not take our own measures with us in judg- 
ing of God. His ways are not as our ways 
in showing kindness, nor his thoughts as our 
thoughts. If they had been in times past, 
how poorly had we fared. 



12 BROADCAST. 

THERE was a seeming inconsistency be* 
tween Noah's preaching and the size 
of his ark. Suppose that multitudes had 
been converted? Hence, did not God intend 
that they should not repent ? Answer : So 
men cavil about God's purposes and his invi- 
tations. If multitudes had believed Noah, 
they too could have built arks. Perhaps 
they would have prevented the flood. 



"QLEEP in Jesus." Beautiful words. 
1<J They are not said to sleep in their 
winding-sheet, in their shroud, in their coffin, 
in their grave, but, first of all, they " sleep 
in Jesus," and in the same sense they con- 
tinue " asleep " in him, while they live with 
him in heaven ; — for one characteristic of 
the Bible is that it describes things as they 
appear. The identification of believers with 
Christ is brought to view in this Christian 
synonyme for death, — "sleep in Jesus." 



BROADCAST. 13 

MOST wonderful are the interpositions 
of God for his wicked people when he 
sees the heathen enemies proposing to destroy 
them. He will punish his children, but if a 
stranger interposes, he will take part with the 
children. Moreover, he will employ strangers 
to punish them, and then punish the perse- 
cutors. This must have vexed the heathen 
nations, and it must have softened the hearts 
of rebellious Israel. All this is for our learn- 
ing. God and his people and their enemies 
are the same as of old. 



" fT^HEY saw the man clothed and in his 
JL right mind, and they were afraid. " 
The change impressed them more than the 
original possession. We see some who are 
exceedingly wrought upon by beholding a 
case of conversion in a relative or friend. 
Nothing troubles a guilty, unbelieving heart 
more than this. 



14 BROADCAST, 

RIDING at anchor, in some uncertainty 
as to the soundings and the reefs, I 
thought of the Bible as anchorage amidst 
doubts, and scepticism, and fears. Blessed 
book, which recalls us from wondering, vague 
feelings about God and futurity. It is, more- 
over, like an island to escaped mariners, ■ — 
solid rock, and stable earth, while all around 
is sea and mist. 



WE would be very careful how we im- 
portuned certain men if we needed 
a favor of them. We would state the case 
clearly and fully, and leave it to their con- 
sideration, trusting to their judgment and 
fidelity, feeling sure of an answer in the 
proper time. Is there any danger, by im- 
portunity in prayer, of impropriety ? Let us 
be clear and full in our supplication, also re- 
membering what he " must believe " " that 
cometh to God." 



BROADCAST. 15 

JOHN discovered the Saviour before the 
rest, on the sea-shore. His quick, dis- 
cerning love helped him to say to Simon 
Peter, " It is the Lord." Happy he who in 
darkness and storms can exclaim thus to his 
companions. 



" 13 UT I have prayed for thee." Might 
JL# we but hear this whispered in the 
anticipation of trial and temptation ! In fore- 
sight of specially needed grace, perhaps the 
Advocate with the Father has made particular 
mention of us before God. 



"XT THEREFORE, let them that suffer 
V ? according to the will of God," — 
showing that sufferings are as really his will 
as obedience. To suffer well is as acceptable 
as to do well. 



16 BROADCAST. 



ft TT was that Mary that anointed the Lord 
A with ointment and wiped his feet with 
her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." 
Yes, and he died. Dear Evangelist, you seem 
to insinuate the tender thought that one so 
kind and loving to Jesus might perhaps be 
spared such trials. O how many such Marys 
there are, and with the self-same griefs. But 
when Christ has made one capable of loving 
him greatly, He is fond of exercising that love. 
We delight in using anything which performs 
its office well. So when God has an excellent 
case of faith, or of love, he uses it, puts it at 
work ; and so we see why some of the very 
best of people have great and strange afflic- 
tions. 



GOD should be our aim and end in 
preaching, as well as to save souls. We 
should seek to save souls not merely for their 
sakes, but "that God in all things may be 
glorified." 



BROADCAST. t 17 

* \ CCEPTED in the beloved." One who 
-Z \. brings an introduction to us from a 
very dear friend, as his friend greatly beloved, 
is sure of a cordial welcome. We for the 
time transfer our love for our friend to him, 
and when we come to love him for his own 
sake also, our love has double strength. At 
first he was accepted of us in our beloved. 
The Saviour's acknowledgment of us before 
God is an immediate and sure guaranty of 
love on the part of God. 



GOD can spare any man or angel who 
chooses to sin. We are not essential 
to his glory or happiness. Past privileges, 
usefulness, attainments, position, are no defence, 
if we forsake God. " The angels that kept 
not their first estate he hath reserved in ever- 
lasting chains." " Having saved the people 
out of the land of Egypt," he "afterward 
destroyed them that believed not." 



18 BROADCAST. 

CONTINUED infancy in spiritual things 
was owing to contention, in the case of 
the Corinthians. So in any church, — a quar- 
rel keeps people from spiritual growth. Few 
things are worse than disturbances in a Christ- 
ian church. Its meetings are a refuge, and a 
covert, from public, domestic, private trials ; 
but when the church is disturbed, we seem to 
be homeless. Woe to him who disturbs the 
peace of Christ's house. 



A TRULY converted man by his fall into 
sin may in the lapse of years be found 
to have been the means of vast good in keep- 
ing others steadfast. But we are inclined to 
think only of the scandal brought on religion 
in such a case. The more prompt and vin- 
dictive the detection and punishment of coun- 
terfeiting, the greater the proof that there is 
a sound currency, and that men value it as 
they ought. 



BROADCAST. 19 

MODESTY and humility should be in 
proportion to gifts. Gabriel is proba- 
bly most meek. Moses had a greater combina- 
tion of talent than any other mortal, and he 
was the meekest of men. Of others, take Sir 
Isaac Newton, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lady 
Huntington, for examples. 



ELISHA'S predicting to Hazael his reign 
and wickedness, and Hazael's fulfilment 
of the prediction, show that the clearest dis- 
closures of future retribution by one from the 
dead would not, of themselves, deter wicked 
men from sin and its known consequences. 



RELIGION is hostile only to that which 
is hostile to religion. It is no enemy 
to innocent pleasure, but its best friend. 



20 BROADCAST. 



» 



WHAT mysteriousness is there in moral 
culture, development ? None at all. 
Yet this with many is conversion. But Christ 
represents regeneration as a mystery, and lik- 
ens it to the mystery of the wind. Now what 
have I ever experienced, what do I preach, 
as to Regeneration, which makes me feel the 
appropriateness of the Saviour's illustration, 
" so is every one that is born of the Spirit " ? 
— He experiences something more mysterious 
than merely changing his views, fh^ does 
not satisfy the illustration of Christ. 



" y^HIEFLY that unto them were, commit- 
V^>4 ted the oracles of God." This reason 
assigned for the pre-eminent advantage of the 
Jew over all others, namely, that he received 
those communications from God of which the 
Old Testament is a record, is a powerful con- 
futation of modern cavils against the elder 
Scripture. _,,._ , I ..;. :. - 



BROADCAST. 21 

I CAN see no sufficient reason in myself why 
I should be forgiven, says a sinner. True, 
and therefore God says, "I, even I, am he 
that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine 
own sake." Are you not willing to be for- 
given, if God may get honor by it ? Plead 
that as the reason why you may look for par- 
don and salvation. 



THE condescending kindness of God, and 
his care for his Church, are illustrated 
in his first revealing his name, Jehovah, in 
connection with the deliverance of Israel out 
of Egypt. 



NO one can long be a secret follower of 
Christ. "He entered into an house, 
and would have no man know it ; but he 
could not be hid." If Christ be in you, it 
will be known. 



22 BROADCAST. 

THE fearlessness with which the Bible 
asserts divine sovereignty, decrees, di- 
vine agency, irrespective of cavils and philo- 
sophical objections, should at least keep us 
from dwelling wholly on the side of human 
accountability. " For God hath put in their 
hearts to fiilfil his will." The two things are 
equally true, and they coexist. 



WE may fear for the piety of one who 
believes in Christian perfection in this 
life. There are two reasons: he has probably 
never seen the plague of his own heart; and 
he does not seem to trtfst wholly to the right- 
eousness of Christ. A man who feels that he 
can be sinless, does not know the spirituality 
of God's law ; and thinking so much of his 
sinlessness, he does not, like Paul, have that 
self-renunciation which they have who are 
"found in him, not having their own right- 
eousness." 



BROADCAST. 23 * 

* 
« TJVORBEAR thee from meddling with 

X. God." This was good advice, though 
from a heathen king, and it must have been 
a great reproof to Josiah. We must learn 
when to yield before the force of circum- 
stances, and change our plan ; and when to 
refrain from interposing, however kind our in- 
tentions may be, in the affairs of others. 



WHEN we speak against acting with a 
view to reward, we are in danger of 
being w T iser than God. We may trust him 
with the morality of the motives which he 
proposes. " Be not overmuch righteous ; why 
shouldest thou destroy thyself? V There is no 
danger in doing anything and 'everything with 
a view to the Divine approbation. Think of 
Moses : " For he had respect unto the rec- 
ompense of the reward." Think of Christ, 
"who, for the joy set before him, endured 
the cross." 



24 BROADCAST. 

" T/'E are as graves." Graves are sometimes 
JL covered with Italian marble, beautiful 
images repose upon them, green sods, flowers, 
adorn them, the small bird builds her nest in 
the grass ; the eye is charmed, the heart 
touched ; we linger there. Then there are 
graves where there are but slight signs of 
interment, the mounds, if any, are sunken, and 
men walk over them. In both, a disclosure 
would fill us with horror. Ye are as graves ! 
What an image have we here from Him who 
spake as never man spake. 



^"TMIE Few. — There is "a few" in every 
JL church who are the heart. — The few 
save the many. - — The few do most of the 
work. — Christ began with a few. " Many 
are called, but few are chosen." Some for- 
merly proposed to render this, " choice ones." 
The truth would warrant this translation better 
than the Greek, 



BROADCAST. 25 

ON pleasing God. — If we live a good 
life, we shall always be likely to dp 
some special act which will greatly please God. 
Abraham's offering of Isaac was not a solitary 
act, but the result of a good state of heart. 
But it secured for him the promises. God 
will furnish us with opportunities for special 
acts of obedience, if we live hear to Him. 



OUR nature, it seems, is capable of a per- 
sonal union with Deity. Strange that 
this truth as set forth in the person of Christ 
should meet with opposition. It opens to us 
an inconceivable prospect as to the capacities 
of the soul. Can Deity personally coexist 
with our nature, act through it, retain it for- 
ever, — not assuming it for a temporary pur- 
pose, and then laying it aside, but through 
eternity using it as a medium of manifestation ? 
" It doth not yet appear what we shall be." 
" But — we shall be like Him." 
2* 



26 BROADCAST. 

THERE is an important difference be- 
tween love and kindness. Some love 
you who really are not kind. Again, we may 
be kind where we may not love. The two 
things go well together ; and loving-kindness 
is most beautiful. God uses the word often 
in speaking to us. 



PAUL makes asseverations that he did not 
" lie " in what he said. Were his friends 
so untruthful when pagans that they now 
needed strong assertions ? There are cases in 
which we must not stand upon our dignity, 
but deny, assert, assure, and use protestations 
of truth and innocency. 



OTHAT this could be said of us: "And 
by their prayer for you which long after 
you for the exceeding grace of God in you." 



BROADCAST. 27 

THE power of present discouragement to 
make us forego all our previous hopes 
and expectations, and to practically annihilate 
the promises of God, is illustrated in Elijah, 
who seems to have had some intimation of his 
future translation to heaven, but under the 
juniper-tree offers to relinquish that distinction 
and privilege, saying, " Take away my life, for 
I am not better than my fathers " ; so let 
me die as they died, only be it now. — God was 
better to him than he and we would be to 
ourselves, could we have our desires. 



ONE frequent cure of religious despond- 
ency, when it is not owing to bodily 
distemper, is, a clear apprehension of the dis- 
tinction between Faith and Hope. We are 
not justified by Hope. That is not the ground 
of pardon. Remember him " who against 
hope believed." There may be faith where 
hope seems to be out of the question. 



28 BROADCAST. 

IF one will reflect upon the nature and 
number of his religious opportunities, his 
instructions, his liberty to be alone for reflec- 
tion, his calls from the pulpit, from providence, 
and in his conscience, his Sabbaths, his years 
of Christian privileges, he cannot but see that 
he might have saved his soul a thousand times, 
and that there is no reason why eternal con- 
sequences should not follow even this short 
life. 



•'XIKTE pray you in Christ's stead." A 
y 1 high commission. And how would 
Christ "pray you"? "Lord, teach us to 
pray," in this sense also. 



THEY who fear God need not be afraid 
of him ; but they will be sure to be 
afraid of him who do not fear him. 



BROADCAST. 29 

WE all seem to take it for granted that 
few comparatively will be lost. Some 
say it to apologize for future punishment. But 
the majority may be lost, and illustrate to other 
beings what sin can do, seeing that only a mi- 
nority of those for whom God became incarnate 
accepted his redemption. By all calculations, 
so many will perish as to make endless punish- 
ment as great a mystery as though there were 
a thousand times more. This world is not the 
universe. 



THERE is great power in a friendly visit, 
a single call, at the right time, under 
certain circumstances, and with benevolent mo- 
tives. Gifts and alms are well, but your pres- 
ence is the greatest attention. A call well 
devised and properly made sometimes has in- 
fluence for life. " When he was in Rome, he 
sought me out very diligently and found me. 
The Lord grant unto him that he may find 
mercy of the Lord in that day." 



30 BROADCAST. 

NO subsequent good conduct can restore 
men to Christian society if they do cer- 
tain evil things. He who yields to certain 
temptations must know that it is for his life. 
The rigor of public moral sentiment in this 
direction is a safeguard to virtue. 



THE design of Christ's death is to save 
the elect, while it is sufficient for all. 
The clear and full belief of this will exalt our 
conceptions of his love to the Church, that is, 
to the individuals composing it. "Christ also 
loved the Church, and gave himself for it." 



IF God uses others, and not us, to glorify 
him in undesirable ways, we ought to be 
grateful, and more zealous, and more useful, 
and watch. 



BROADCAST. 31 

SOMETIMES you question whether every- 
thing is not an illusion, even the great 
verities of the Christian faith. It is a vaporish 
state of mind. Do not give utterance to it 
except in prayer. Look into the Bible, turn 
over the pages here and there, and something 
will strike you with the force of reality. Some 
feelings cannot be reasoned down, for they did 
not come through reasoning. 



BEGIN with Love. Anything which 
makes you love will make you penitent 
and believing. Instead of trying to excite grief 
for sin, and faith, fix your grateful love on the 
Saviour, and everything else will flow in upon 
your heart. " Her sins, which are many, are 
forgiven, for she loved much." She loved be- 
fore she was aware that she had saving faith, 
or true repentance. Love involves them. Love 
is not only the fulfilling of the Law, it is the 
fulfilling of the Gospel. 



32 BROADCAST. 

" f^\ OD was manifest in the flesh." Fear- 
V^J lessly spoken. Let us dwell upon it 
more, in its literal acceptation. The Supreme 
Deity of Jesus Christ is the corner-stone of 
Christianity. It is infinitely grand, ennobling. 
It shapes our whole belief. All our views of 
God depend upon this. The union of God in 
Christ, — - the God-man, — is the all-important 
truth. 



ASSURANCE of faith, and joy, are no. 
the chief evidences of acceptance with 
God, as we incline to make them. Self-loath- 
ing, and humility, are as good signs of grace 
as they. 



JEHOSHAPHAT'S weakness was, alliance 
w^ith bad characters. How foolishly he 
went into it, in the case of Ahab, and of Ahaziah, 
2 Chron. xviii. and xx. 



BROADCAST. 3a 

TO leave men free, yet accountable, is in- 
finite wisdom, God does not govern 
men as he governs planets. To govern them 
while they are at the same time wholly re- 
sponsible, is the great mystery and the divine 
glory of his administration. 



WE carry our disposition, temper, and 
manners even into our treatment of 
our God. How do we behave ourselves to- 
ward him? Are we agreeable companions 
for those heavenly visitors who say, " We will 
come unto him and make our abode with him" ? 



IN vain do I urge against God's mercy, — 
I am a sinner. That is provided for. 
" When we were yet without strength, — 
Christ died for the ungodly." . 

2* c 



34 BROADCAST. 

IT is a great and good thing for God to give 
us a heart for any duty or event. With 
the heart in it, a labor, or sacrifice, or an event, 
Jbecomes changed. Difficulties disappear, the 
complexion of things is altered. We become 
qualified at once for a difficult situation to which 
we are called, by having another heart given us. 
King Saul was thus favored. He shrunk from 
promotion. God gave him another heart, a 
spirit and frame of mind congenial with his 
new duties. It was not " a new heart," but it 
was good, and it was an unspeakable help. 



THE sublimest truths are familiarly em- 
ployed in the Bible for personal applica- 
tion. " Let this mind be in you which was 
also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form 
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God," &c. — Notice the exhortations to 
"servants," leading directly to the grandest 
propositions concerning the Christian system. 



BROADCAST. 35 

TWO things are essential if a man would 
preach any considerable time to the same 
people, viz. " Long-suffering and Doctrine.'* 
Without long-suffering, he will be wearied by 
want of success and by his various trials ; and 
without doctrine he will be vapid, a mere ex- 
horter, draw from an empty well, drive away 
the thinking portion of his hearers, or make 
them turn him away for one who will feed 
them with knowledge as well as emotion. Paul, 
the preacher, knew what he did when he was 
led to use those words, "long-suffering and 
doctrine." 



"T^XERCISE thyself unto godliness." 
I J The word in the original refers to 
Gymnastics. Practise in being good. Use 
means, arts, self-denial, labor, be ingenious 
in seeking to be godly. It is not a matter 
of course to be godly. It requires practice, 
training, exercise. The exhortation was to 
Timothy, a minister, from the great Apostle. 



,36 BROADCAST. 

CHRISTIANS should make a study of 
Christian morals, and seek to be exem- 
plary in morality. The world appreciates that, 
and cannot understand spirituality. But if 
men see Christians made better in that which 
is the world's religion, that is, morality, it leads 
them to think that there is a reality in Chris- 
tian experience. 



i 



KNOW how well my heart hath earned 

A chastisement like this, 
In trifling many a grace away 

In self-complacent bliss." 



Great penetration and self-knowledge are in 
these words. There is a spiritual luxury, and 
spiritual pride. Work is one antidote and cure. 
Some Christians are like sponges on the rocks 
at Corfu, now dry, now filled with water, then 
dry, to be saturated again. And there they 
cleave and cling to one spot, and do no good. 
The ocean of divine truth only fills them, while 
they ought to be emptying their gains on others- 



BROADCAST. 37 

THERE is misanthropy sometimes among 
those who profess to love God and 
their brother also. They avoid intercourse 
and contact with others. The cure is, to mix 
with others in order to give pleasure, not to 
get it ; " not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister." To shun society, and shut one's 
self up in himself, is less than human. " Then 
the beasts go into dens, and remain in their 
places." It is the cold which makes them 
do so. 



TAKE example from Christ, sitting on 
the well, and talking with one person, 
no matter whom. How she spread his words. 
And what words they were ! The doctrine 
of the universality of acceptable worship was 
propounded there, and the axe laid at the 
root of prescription and formalism in religion. 
We must not be penurious of our thoughts, 
nor refuse to preach our best sermons on rainy 
days to a few hearers. 



38 BROADCAST. 

« 1 1 "VHERE is that for bashfulness promiseth 
JL his friend, and maketh him his enemy 
for nothing." (Ecclesiasticus xx.) A too 
ready way of assenting and agreeing with an- 
other, from fear of saying No, and then finding 
that the engagement is impracticable, and thence 
an affront given by seeming indifference or 
want of faithfulness, are referred to in this wise 
observation of human conduct. Lasting aliena- 
tions have grown up in this way, and all " for 
nothing." 



NEVER make a mistake, meet with a 
disappointment, suffer, lose anything 
which you prized, or go through any sorrow, 
without causing it to be a source of instruc- 
tion. " Who, passing through the valley of 
Baca, make it a well." True wisdom this, in- 
stead of abandoning ourselves to grief. Rather 
say, What am I to learn, be, do, as the result 
of this trial ? So dig in the valley of sorrow ; 
it is full of springs not far below the surface. 



BROADCAST. 39 

IT must be a great satisfaction to a good 
man, after the day of judgment, to feel that 
he has had his heart and his life ransacked, 
turned inside out, everything explained, defined, 
acknowledged, confessed, forgiven, settled ; and 
thenceforth no more need, with him, of judg- 
ment days. 



SOME people suffer long and bitterly, and 
do not concern themselves to know the 
cause. " Then there was a famine — three 
years, — and David inquired of the Lord," and 
he said, "It is for Saul and for his bloody 
house, because he slew the Gibeonites." 



" II THERE also our Lord was crucified." 
v ▼ Earth seen from other worlds is 
perhaps designated by this event, irrespective 
of latitude and longitude upon its surface. 



40 BROADCAST. 

DIFFICULTIES with the truth are in 
danger of making us part company with 
Christ. " This is an hard saying, who can 
hear it? — From that time many of his disci- 
ples went back and walked no more with him. 
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also 
go away?" So a personal attachment to the 
Saviour helps us to understand, or at least to 
receive with meekness, many difficult things in 
religion. 



WHAT a glorious creation Christ is, as 
God -man. "He is the beginning 
(stands at the head) of the creation of God." 
So he is the goal for which our nature is to run. 



IF one can bring himself to admit the God- 
head of Jesus Christ, it will prove a solvent 
for a great many difficulties in religion. 



BROADCAST. 41 

TALKING plainly, patiently, and to your 
utmost satisfaction, with argument and 
illustration, to ofie who differs from you, but is 
willing to hear, you are perhaps surprised to 
find how little impression you have made upon 
him. So one who had tried to give a blind 
man an idea of the distinction between colors 
was affected when the poor man quietly re- 
marked at the close, " I have an idea that red 
is something like the sound of a trumpet." 
" The natural man receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God." "Nicodemus answered and 
said unto him, How can these things be?" 



THE Psalms of David are true theology. 
Poetry, in its true sense, is the highest 
effort of the human soul. Religion expressed 
in the Psalms is the vital action of the 
renewed heart. The distinction is a very nice 
and critical one between the theology of the 
intellect and the theology of the feelings. 



42 BROADCAST. 

" T EST if thou be silent unto me, I be- 
1 J come like them that go down into the 
pit." How indispensable communion with God 
had become to this man! It should be painful, 
nay, distressing to us, not to have God make 
us feel that he regards and hears us. 



IT would be good to live through a week 
with the Sabbath in anticipation* It would 
be likely to be a good Sabbath to us. It would 
shed its light forward into the next week, and 
meet the coming Lord's day. 



APPLY those sublime words to perished 
hopes, lost fortunes, departed joys, cloud- 
ed prospects, ill success, —-"I am the Resur- 
rection and the Life." They are as true of 
these as they are of our dead bodies. 



BROADCAST. 43 

« T)REPARE a place for you." — Then 
JL everything is not already fixed and 
settled, with monotonous uniformity, like the 
twenty or thirty tenements in a block of 
buildings. But there will be adaptedness to 
our tastes, our characters, our conduct, our 
connections, our future occupation. "I — 
prepare a place for you," I, who, as man, 
know and appreciate all your feelings and 
wishes. His eye is on us while he is prepar- 
ing our place. He may be influenced in his 
preparation by his observation of us. 

" He lives, my mansion to prepare ; 
He lives to bring me safely there." 



WE have never had a true conception of 
grandeur, we shall say, when we see 
the second coming of Christ. " He shall come 
in his own glory, and in the glory of the Father, 
and of the holy angels." Distinguish between 
these, and then combine them. 



44 BROADCAST. 

WHAT " change " did Job refer to ? " If 
a man die, shall he live again ? All the 
days of my appointed time will I wait till my 
change come." Was not resurrection in his 
thoughts ? He had been speaking of living 
again. Moreover, see the next verse : " Thou 
shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt 
have a desire to the work of thy hands." A 
believer in the Resurrection feels that there is 
something in these words which a cold-heart- 
ed, sceptical neologist will prove, perhaps to 
demonstration, can by no possibility be derived 
from it. 



THAT festoon made by the Aurora Bo- 
realis, August 28, 1859, seemed to be 
directly over your dwelling. A million of 
people probably thought the same, each of his 
dwelling. So the Bible is all yours, all its 
promises, its God, its Saviour, all yours, as 
though there were not millions to share them 
with you, and think the same. 



BROADCAST. 45 

BECAUSE "Billingsgate" became wjiat it 
is, say only one hundred and fifty years 
ago, therefore there was no vituperative lan- 
guage previous to that time ! Such is the argu- 
ment?, translated, of those who say that, because 
Gehenna became such as it was about such a 
year, therefore there was no hell previously. 
Moreover, inasmuch as Jerusalem rose only 
with the kings of Israel, there was no heaven 
before, because a familiar name of heaven is 
" Jerusalem." 



REWARDS from God are mercy. " Also 
unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy ; for 
thou renderest to every man according to his 
works." We should call this justice. Not so 
to a sinner who has forfeited everything. It is 
infinite mercy to reward the works of one who 
can do nothing meritorious in the way of justi- 
fication. This is an indirect assertion, in the 
Old Testament, of the great idea of salvation 
by grace. 



46 BROADCAST. 

DAVID with some seems to be less confi- 
dent in hope after his fall than before, 
judging from his Psalms. See the ineffaceable 
influence upon the soul, of transgression ! 



THEOLOGY is not mere knowing for 
the sake of knowing ; but to live nearer 
to God. A theologian ought to have fervent 
piety, unction. Otherwise, he is mere lead- 
pipe or water-log. 



THERE are exquisite touches of beautiful 
social feelings in Paul's Epistles. Here 
is one : " For he longed after you all, and was 
full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that 
he had been sick." It is a refinement of love, 
indeed, to yearn after those who had had solici- 
tude for our affliction. Such refinement the 
religion of Jesus produces in pagan bosoms. 



BROADCAST. 47 

WE do well to conceive, if we can, what 
a change of affairs there will be when 
this whole mediatorial kingdom comes to an end. 
The principles of it now run through all our 
social existence, enter into all the dealings of 
God with us, both in his common providence 
and in his grace. To withdraw this mediato- 
rial element is like withdrawing caloric or oxy- 
gen from nature. " Who shall live when God 
doeth this ? " " Then cometh the end, when 
He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even 
the Father." 



JOB tells us (ch. xxx.) how, as a magistrate, 
he had dealt with the w r retched scum of 
society, the pestilent fellows, the plunderers, 
the villains of his day. But now, he says, in his 
adversity, they return upon him. His descrip- 
tion of them, and of the indignities which he 
suffered from them, is a vivid picture of future 
misery in the next world from a similar source. 
" Gather not my soul with sinners." 



48 BROADCAST. 

THE pleasures of sin are very sweet ; let 
us not deny it. But " the pleasures of 
sin for a season," — this expression warns us of 
the bitter end. The everlasting loss of pleas- 
ure will be aggravated by the recollections of it. 
Suppose the desires of sinners to be eternal. 
Dante pictures this like no one else. Some 
dear young friends, with everything to tempt 
them, wisely say, We wish to be happy forever, 
and our bliss will begin when that of the devo- 
tee of the world ends. Besides, we are hap- 
pier now than he. 



DOES Job now curse the day of his 
birth ? Far different would his lan- 
guage be could he now return and suffer. 
The book of which he was the occasion is 
worth to him a thousand times all his tribu- 
lation. When we are plunged into great and 
strange trials, let us look forward a thousand 
years ; let us imagine what fruit God may be 
purposing to raise out of our affliction. 



BROADCAST. 49 

THE silent influence of a pious home is 
illustrated by the Prodigal Son. Had 
that home been repulsive to him, or had his 
father been a stern, forbidding man, that re- 
covering thought about home would not have 
visited him. Take courage, parents of prodi- 
gals, if you were faithful with God and your 
family altars. Persevere, parents, in family re- 
ligion. It may be like the fabulous song of 
the sea in the shell, to the ear of a child when 
far from home and from God. 



CONSIDERING the Incarnation, the Sac- 
rifice, the Resurrection, Ascension, Me- 
diatorship of our Lord, not to obey from the 
heart his commands in the Gospel, is justly 
declared a crime, subjecting us to the wrath of 
God. Substitute an earthly parent, husband, 
master, for Christ, and suppose all to be done 
which Christ has done, and how would we re- 
gard a corresponding neglect and disobedience ? 



50 BROADCAST. 

NATIONS losing the knowledge of the 
true God, have not at once had it re- 
stored to them. They who dwell exclusively 
on the paternal character of God cannot ex- 
plain this. Were the relation of father the 
only type of God's relation to man, he would 
have hastened to restore his worship to the 
descendants of those who once knew but for- 
sook him. " Who in times past suffered all 
nations to walk in their own ways." And 
how did they walk ! See here the retributive 
and vindictive element in the Divine adminis- 
tration. 



COUNT up special instances of Divine 
interposition in your history, cases in 
which God signally appeared for your relief. 
How many do you find yourself able to 
recall ? Then read, — " And the Lord was 
angry with Solomon because his heart was- 
turned from the Lord God of Israel, which 
had appeared unto him twice," 



BROADCAST, 51 

" T% >TINE hand shall not be upon thee." 
ItX Conscious of receiving a great wrong, 
it has wonderful power to forbear retaliation. 
We are thereby made superior to the evil-doer. 
We leave the case with God. Soon the thought 
of God as an avenger makes us pity, and even 
love, the adversary. 



" T T UMBLE yourselves, therefore." You 
Ml Jl have met with a great blow. The 
first thing to be done is to bow down before 
God. Wait for no explanation, consolation. 
Your place is in the dust at once. 



THERE are four different ways by which 
men expect and propose to be saved. 
One is Fate. Another is Chance. A third 
is Self. The fourth is Christ. 



52 BROADCAST. 

REPENTANCE and faith may be included 
in some one act when the soul is uncon- 
scious of repenting or believing. The publican 
in the temple probably was not aware that he 
was complying with the terms of salvation. 
The woman that was a sinner probably made 
no analysis of her feelings when she wept at 
the feet of Christ. Her love was repentance, 
faith, submission, consecration, all together. 



IT brings tears to think how kind God is to 
reward our poor efforts for him, represent- 
ing himself as laid under obligation. " God is 
not unrighteous to forget your work and labor 
of love." The intimation seems to be that 
God would esteem it " unrighteous " in him 
not to reward us, — instead of reminding us 
that we are unprofitable servants, and that we 
never do more than our duty. What a God 
we serve ! 



BROADCAST. 53 

"y^ALL the poor, the maimed, &c. Do- 
V^>4 ing good to such serves to prevent 
wrong motives in charitable acts, and excites a 
pure, disinterested love, which is most like the 
love of ministering angels, who get no reward 
from us. It is also kindred with the love of 
God toward us and the pure compassion of 
Christ. 



a /k ND Judas also knew the place." There 
-Z JL is a history in that line which the mind 
of John might portray with divine pathos. 
That place is portrayed in the thoughts of Ju- 
das, in "his own place." He went there from 
Gethsemane. Shall we? 



ONE is interceding for us in heaven: — 
" Sit ye here while I go and pray 
yonder." Let us watch with him. 



54 BROADCAST. 

WHILE we must give no directions ta 
a sinner which he might be using 
and yet perish, there are undoubtedly means 
of conversion which are profitably employed. 
Put yourself in the way of the Holy Spirit. 
Go where you think he is. Avoid things 
which you know hinder conversion. " And 
ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall 
search for me with all your heart." 



NO doubt some lost sinners will be exas- 
perated when they see how God spares 
their companions in guilt, and saves them 
though as deserving of perdition as themselves. 
What partiality!, they might say. No doubt 
they resolve that such a being is not fit to reign. 
Perhaps they declare that they would rather 
suffer, than love and serve him. But there 
were instances in which others were cut off, 
and these complainers were left. 



BROADCAST. 55 

a ^ST^ET all this availeth me nothing so long 
JL as I see Mordecai the' Jew sitting at the 
king's gate." The folly of cherishing animos- 
ity against a fellow-creature, brooding over your 
prejudice, conversing about it. Rather go and 
see him, and find something in him, as you will, 
to qualify your feelings. Shall one worm of 
the dust make you wretched? spoil every pleas- 
ure? cover even the face of God? 



TO see beauty is to love it. Hence all 
who do not love God do not know him. 
No matter whether prejudice, or antipathy, or 
consciousness of sin, be the cause, the man 
who does not love God does not know him. 
All such are " Gentiles that know not God." 
Yet all beauty dwells in him as its source. 
The conception of every beautiful thing was 
w T ith him. Not to love God, then, is entire 
depravity. 



oQ BROADCAST. 

" T> EF0RE Abraham was, I am." "Then 
JLJ the Jews took up stones again to stone 
him." The human heart has strong repugnance 
to the superhuman nature of Christ. It requires 
the submission of our reason to faith. It is such 
an infinite privilege to have such a Saviour and 
friend as Christ, the God-man, must be, the 
wonder is that all are not prejudiced in favor 
of his deity. 



WE do not feel at liberty to praise a 
distinguished man to his face. But 
we can tell God all our feelings toward him, 
and offer praises to him continually. " O thou 
that inhabitest the praises of Israel." 



SUPPOSE that Christ interceded as we 
pray. * How can we expect him to do 
better than we ? If the client is not in ear- 
nest, can he blame his advocate ? 



BROADCAST. 57 

" 1\ /TORE than twelve legions of angels." 
ItI We should have them at our side, 
" presently," if we needed them. Perhaps we 
have them now. " And behold the mountain 
was full of horses and chariots of fire round 
about Elisha." 



DANIEL showed his wisdom in simply- 
doing " as he did aforetime," when the 
decree was signed forbidding prayer except to 
the king. He did not increase his seasons of 
devotion, so defying the law ; he did not lift 
up holy hands with wrath. 



" \ "^^ Jonah rose up to flee from the 
jL Jl presence of the Lord." It is easy to do 
so without going to Tarshish. Avoid prayer. 
Live in a known sin. Neglect known duty. 
Be worldly-minded. Desecrate the Sabbath. 

3* 



58 BROADCAST. 

WHEN we have prayed for direction, 
God leaves us in perplexity, exhaust- 
ing our strength, till at last we hit upon a 
plan, seemingly by accident. God thus hides 
himself, while really at work for us, to conceal 
his agency, and exalt the duty of effort, and to 
preserve and honor human responsibility. 



THERE are very many instances in the 
Bible, plainly right, in which our in- 
stincts would surely have been at fault. For 
example, Christ's washing his disciples' feet; 
giving them that repast on the sea-shore, — 
the fire being kindled by him, and the fish 
laid thereon ; sitting on the ass in his entrance 
to Jerusalem ; several directions of a personal 
nature to the prophets ; Moses shut out of Ca- 
naan, &c, &c. Our moral sentiments, then, 
are not the standard for God's administration. 
We must correct our moral sentiments, as we 
do our chronometers, by a standard. 



BROADCAST. 59 

CHRIST, apprehended by the affections, 
and making himself an inmate of the 
soul, shortens distances, lightens labor, turns 
despondency to cheerfulness, relieves us of 
burdensome responsibility, making us feel that 
he is working in us, by us, and for us. " Then 
they willingly received him into the ship, and 
immediately the ship was at the land whither 
they went." 



IN the stillness of Sabbath mornings, the 
prevailing frame of mind, thought, subject 
on which we dwell, is apt to show what our 
prevailing frame has been during the week. 
It rises to the top. 



THERE is a remarkable frequency, in the 
Bible, of the expression " love mercy," 
as applied to man. 



60 BROADCAST. 

THINK of the law of God being en- 
tirely satisfied, for Christ's sake, with 
a good man, in his life and conversation, who 
truly believes in the justifying righteousness 
of Christ. " That the righteousness of the 
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not 
after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 



THE soul will forever have its deliberate 
choice, formed here, and persisted in. 
" The fruit of his doings," " the reward of 
his hands," will characterize every man's fu- 
ture condition. 



" \ "^-^ ^ e P r i soners heard them." Chris- 
jljL tian joy sometimes has a deep effect 
on a sinner, by the contrast between his sad 
and wicked heart and a singing, light-hearted 
Christian. 



BROADCAST. 61 

* T ENTERED into thine house ; thou gavest 
JL me no water for my feet." When 'may 
Christ be said to have been in our dwellings ? 
How was it at the time of those special bless- 
ings, happy returns, great sorrows and joys ? 
And how did we treat him ? Was it thus ? 
" My head with oil thou didst not anoint." 
"Thou gavest me no kiss." It seems that 
the Saviour looks for tokens of our love, ap- 
preciates them, misses them. 



ARE we in danger of forgetting the Fa- 
ther, in the work of redemption, in our 
gratitude and love to the suffering Saviour ? 
Read the " ascriptions " at the end of Dr. 
Watts 's Book III. of Hymns. They instruct 
us on this point. " Giving thanks unto the 
Father, which hath made us meet to be par- 
takers of the inheritance with the saints in 
light." u Giving thanks unto God and the 
Father by him." 



62 BROADCAST. 

THAT cannot be healthful piety wnere 
there is no activity in doing good. 
There is danger of luxuriously enjoying relig- 
ious ordinances. We are in danger of spiritual 
sloth. Solomon seems to have great antipathy 
to sluggards, and we need to apply his words 
chiefly to spiritual things. He is wise who 
mixes reflective and meditative piety with ef- 
forts to do good and to communicate. 



" \y LESSED are they that keep judgment, 
JLJ and he that doeth righteousness at all 
times." (Ps. cvi. 8.) For the first and only 
delinquency may be fatal. Departing once 
from a good rule has often led to a fire, or 
bankruptcy, or an accident. It is not safe to 
do wrong in a single instance. The critical 
moment, the test, may now be upon us. How 
little you thought that that one act, so con- 
trary to your habit, would come to light, and 
give a wrong and an injurious impr*w»on. 



BROADCAST. 63 

SOME things in the manner of the New- 
Testament writers, in speaking of the 
coming of Christ and the end of the world, 
greatly resemble the prophetic way of the old 
seers. Prophecy was ceasing, but those things 
are lingering streaks of it in the sky. 



THERE is calmness in Divine justice. 
How slow ; how long it waits ; how 
many different things it suffers to mature for 
one purpose ; how quietly it inflicts its sen- 
tence. " Fury is not in me.'' 



WHEN Christ says, " He that is not 
against us is on our part," it is a 
reflection on human nature, — as though it 
were generally against him, and if not so, it 
is an exception. 



64 ' BROADCAST. 

SEE the great billows assailing the "small 
ship " with Jesus in it. Would that the 
disciples had had faith to rebuke the winds and 
seas without awaking him. Would that we 
could always do that which it seems so desira- 
ble for them to have done. 



"TF any man's work shall be burned, he shall 
A suffer loss." And a great loss it will 
be, to behold one's life a failure. Perhaps a 
minister here and there may find that, by some 
great misconception of the truth, he did no 
good, though he himself is saved; yet so as 
by fire. 



HOW we anticipate an engagement with 
an important personage. We prepare 
ourselves. — We are soon to meet God. "Pre- 
pare to meet thy God." 



BROADCAST. 65 

CONSCIENCE is capable of being edu- 
cated, and greatly needs it. Sometimes 
it is morbid, needlessly sensitive, leads us to be 
over righteous, painfully and uselessly scrupu- 
lous. Our instincts are not the supreme law. 
The word of God is the rule. " A good con- 
science," in the wide sense of that term, is an 
inestimable blessing. Good sense is insepara- 
ble from it. It is in itself common sense. 



DISTINGUISH between David's con- 
sciousness of rectitude (Ps. xviii.) and 
spiritual pride, or self-righteousness. We hon- 
or a suitable self-esteem, and we despise that 
derogatory way which some have in speaking 
of themselves. While we must not think too 
highly of ourselves, and are commanded " to 
think soberly," there is a way in which "we 
ought to think." Self-respect is essential to 
comfort, and without it we forfeit esteem. 



66 BROADCAST. 

THERE is power in candidly stating an 
objection to our side of the question, 
without undue anxiety to answer it. " But the 
Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through 
Beelzebub, the chief of the devils." No re- 
ply. The allegation is left to gandor. There 
is moral sublimity in this. 



WE must "labor to enter into that rest." 
We are not going thither as a matter 
of course. The means of being saved are as 
much decreed as our salvation. If we use no 
means, we may not expect the desired end. 



DEATH should not seem to us like the 
breaking down of a carriage in an un- 
finished journey, but the orderly end of a plan. 
" I have finished my course," says Paul. 



BROADCAST. 67 

NO part of sacred history better illustrates 
the subject of Divine decrees and free 
agency, than the history of King Saul. With 
Samuel for his constant adviser and friend, with 
the promises of God sealing the selection of 
him from the whole people, coming as it were 
into the place of God as immediate ruler of the 
nation, not only was he free, but he enjoyed 
marvellous helps in being good. Upon his 
transgression, Samuel said to him, " Thou hast 
done foolishly ; — for now would the Lord have 
established thy kingdom upon Israel forever." 
To us it is the same as though God had no 
secret purposes. Yet shall we disallow in him 
that which merchants and statesmen covet, — 
prescience? Must God have no purposes and 
plans, lest that should seem to control the crea- 
ture's freedom ? 



PETER and Judas in their repentance. — 
One " went out and wept bitterly " ; the 
other " went out, and it was night." 



68 BROADCAST. 

ONE reason why we enjoy no more in 
religion may be that we think only of 
our feelings toward God, and not of his feel- 
ings toward us. But " we love him because 
he first loved us." This should be our ex- 
pectation, — To receive from God, not merely 
to give ; and therefore we are to seek him 
with our wants, even more than with our 
offerings. 



PERHAPS God's love of our devotional 
acts is like our love of microscopic beauty 
in flowers. At least, their minuteness, com- 
pared with the exercises of higher orders of 
beings, may no more be a reason for his dis- 
regard of us, than minuteness is a cause for 
neglect on the part of a philosopher. There 
are few optical pleasures greater than the ex- 
amination of flowers by the aid of an ordinary 
magnifying-glass. The surface of a common 
red pink exceeds the glory of Solomon. Fear 
not "though thou be little," 



BROADCAST. 69 

€i \ ^^ ^ e seven an g e l s came out of the 
JL jL temple, having the seven plagues, clothed 
in pure and white linen, and having their 
breasts girded with golden girdles." Men gen- 
erally associate angels with birds and flowers. 
They are executors of God's judgments, as 
well as ministering spirits. One angel slew a 
hundred and eighty-five thousand men in one 
night. Another directed a pestilence in Da- 
vid's time. But more, an angel slew all the 
first-born of Egypt. God's angels are not 
after the pattern of our effeminate conceptions. 
There is no weakness in holiness. " Strength 
and beauty are in his tabernacle." 



THE quiet prayer-meeting at the river's 
side led to the conversion of Lydia, the 
imprisonment and release of Paul and Silas, 
the conversion of the jailer. Never say, "It 
is only a prayer-meeting." 



70 " BROADCAST. 

DO Christians become less zealous as they 
grow old ? They may not be so strong 
to labor, but it would be one of the most 
powerful -allegations against Christianity, if 
those who had had longest experience of it 
should feel and act as though it were a delu- 
sion, or did not make good its promises. We 
must conclude that, while there is the same 
variety of character among the old as among 
the younger in the Church of Christ, it is true 

that 

" His grace will to the end 

Stronger and brighter shine." 

We may suppose that the unfeigned faith dwelt 
as largely in the grandmother Lois as in the 
mother Eunice. Our observation surely veri- 
ties this. 



" 1 f AST thou not made an hedge about 
JL X him ? " — Satan's observation and re- 
flection with regard to a good man and God's 
care of him. 



BROADCAST. 71 

INDEPENDENT of parentage, marriage, 
relationships of any and every kind, the 
soul has a relation to God which we see and 
feel when death draws nigh. It asserts -itself 
against father, mother, husband, wife, child. 
Hence, make most of that relation to God. It 
was prior to every other ; it absorbs them all. 



EP H R A I M Syrus quaintly represents 
lambs all ove£ the earth as praising 
Christ, the Lamb of God, who terminated 
their appointment for sacrifice. — Hence learn 
how " the whole creation " will one day par- 
take in the benefits of redemption. 



TO be kept from certain sins is a proof 
of God's love. "Whoso pleaseth God 
shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be 
taken by her." 



72 BROADCAST. 

LET us be happy in contributing to the 
sum of human happiness, without os- 
tentation or hope of reward. A teamster has 
dropped a billet of logwood from his load in 
the highway. You get no reward for telling 
him, but you add so much to the welfare of 
the unknown proprietor ; you cheer a laboring 
man with a gleam of satisfaction. 



THOUGH Jesse was blameless, and Da- 
vid's mother is called " thy hand-maid," 
yet David says, " Behold, I was shapen in 
iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive 
me." 



"rpHEEE is a sin not unto death." 
JL Then, of course, there is one unto 
death, or such an exceptional declaration would 
not have been made. Hence, endless retri- 
bution. 



BROADCAST. 73 

THE converse of that passage is true, "As 
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." 
To rebuke and chasten a child makes a parent 
love him, and in proportion to the good effect of 
the discipline. So again, God says of Ephraim, 
" Since 1 spake against him, I do earnestly re- 
member him still, — I will surely have mercy 
upon him." Every parent can understand this. 



FIFTY-TWO Sabbaths come at the close 

of a year, stand about you, and say, 

We are going to the bar of God. We will 
meet you there. Farewell. 



T 



HERE is assimilation of character to the 
favorite object and chosen good : — 

" Whate'er thou lovest, man, that too become thou must ; 
God, if thou lovest God, dust, if thou lovest dust." 
4 



74 BROADCAST. 

BLOOD must be satisfied. The blood of 
Christ must be satisfied, by the salvation 
or punishment of us who shed it. " The voice 
of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the 
ground." So the blood of Christ has a cry. 
It has cried for eighteen hundred years, and 
is crying still. It will be satisfied by the 
travail of his soul. It must be avenged on 
those who count it an unholy thing. 



a T fE wakeneth morning by morning." — 
JL X May God wake us up every day in 
a right frame. How it cheers and strengthens 
us for the day to awake in a good frame. 
Morning thoughts are regarded by us with no 
little interest. If we begin the night with 
God, we may hope to say, " When I awake I 
am still with thee." God will wake us up at 
the last day. May he now do it, " morning 
by morning." 



BROADCAST. 75 

OTHAT we could have a daily thought 
of a suffering, dying Saviour ! It would 
keep our hearts tender, our spirits gentle, our 
words mild, our tempers patient, and make us 
more loving. 

" Well he remembers Calvary : 
Nor let his saints forget/' 



" A ND they spake against the God of 
A. JL Jerusalem as against the gods of the 
people of the earth w T hich were the work of 
the hands of men." Childlike indignation and 
reasoning at the affront put upon the Most 
High. 



N 



OW the man out of whom the devil? 
were departed, besought him that he 
might be with him." O that we might thus 
cling to Jesus ! How safe at his side ! Nor 
will " Satan dare my soul invade." 



76 BROADCAST. 

i EOAUSE he could swear by no greater, 
he sware by himself," — as though He 
would if He could. And all this effort of 
protestation to confirm this promise to a be- 
liever, — " Surely, blessing I will bless thee, 
and multiplying I will multiply thee." 



" in\OTH not ne see m y wa y s > an( i count 
JL^ all my steps ? " Sometimes how good 
it is to think of this. As though no one else 
engaged his attention, God has constant and 
perfect cognizance of each of us. 



OBSERVE this change : " In me, that 
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 
Now the man who said this was once the 
straitest of the Pharisees. Self-knowledge is a 
beautiful and wonderful fruit of regeneration. 



BROADCAST. 77 

* t I "\HAT ye may grow thereby." What 
A is a growing Christian ? He brings 
his feelings and conduct more and more to a 
likeness with those of Christ. He strengthens 
that in himself which is weak, he jDuts on 
certain things which he has not, his aim is 
increasingly to be like God. He loves the 
preceptive parts of Scripture. Anything which 
helps him to know himself, to increase in 
goodness, is the object of his desire. 



IT is doubtful if we feel anything very 
deeply about which we do not speak to 
others, unless it be unsuitable ; and of such 
things there are very few which we do not 
find some one to whom we may communicate 
them. So if we feel much on religious sub- 
jects, we shall be ready to talk about them. 
" I believed, therefore have I spoken ; we also 
believe, and therefore speak." 



78 BROADCAST. 

« T PRAY for them ; I pray not for the 
JL world, but for those whom thou hast 
given me." There is a sense -in which Christ 
intercedes for his people as he does not for 
the world. He must have died for his people 
with different feelings from those which he had 
toward others. Christians do not sufficiently 
think of this. It would increase their sense of 
obligation to Christ, and awaken confidence 
and love toward him, to admit this truth. 
" Particular redemption," as some state it, is 
not true ; yet redemption is particular. 



HERE is demonstration that the Old Tes- 
tament dispensation was preparatory to 
the New, instead of the New being an entirely 
original institution : u I sent you to reap that 
whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men la- 
bored, and ye are entered into their labors." 
Who were these " other men," if not the 
Old Testament prophets ? 



BROADCAST. 79 

THE expostulations of God (for example, 
in Amos iv.) show his sincere good- 
will toward all men. Whatever is true as 
to his secret purposes, it is equally true that 
he is sincere in his invitations and promises. 
These are our rule of duty, not his decrees. 



THAT the moral superiority of all Chris- 
tians over the heathen is not equal to 
their intellectual and social superiority, is a 
proof of the irreparable debasement of human 
nature. Very many, also, are far better as 
men and women than they are as Christians. 



THE prosperity of King Uzziah is a won- 
derful story, 2 Chron. xxvi. The causes 
which led to it, by the favor of God, are full 
of admonition and encouragement. 



80 BROADCAST. 

SOME professors of religion seem to subsist 
on the phenomena of religion. There 
must be something unusual astir to satisfy them 
that anything is doing. The Gospel is preached, 
the lives of men are affected by it, children are 
taught, cases of conviction and conversion ripen 
into confirmed hope, one by one, but these 
Christians must have something new. Sun, 
moon, and stars are of no account ; the comet 
is all in all. Eyes are turned toward it which 
never regard the sunrise nor sunset. These 
Christians are generally less spiritually-minded 
than others, judging from their prayers. 



INTELLIGENT men come from their pur- 
suits of ingenuity and industry, and sit 
and witness the manner in which ministers do 
their work. With all the acquisitions which 
they can make of piety and zeal, the ministry 
must also remember that word to one of their 
number, " Let no man despise thee." 



BROADCAST. 81 

• t I ^HE seed of evil-doers shall never be 
JL renowned." Here we have that fear- 
ful law of God's administration which connects 
parent and child through the moral character 
of the parent. The associations which men 
have with the memory of an evil-doer invol- 
untarily attach to his child, even where there 
is no prejudice against the child. Thus God 
would bring the strongest motives to bear on 
a parent, seeing that he depends so much for 
the right ordering of human affairs on the 
transmitted influence of family religion. 



U \ ^^ m *^ e daytime he was teaching in 
-ZjL the temple, and at night he went out 
and abode in the mount that is called the 
Mount of Olives." Here w r as the mixing of 
retirement and meditation with public service. 
Continued, uninterrupted reflection and musing 
for a season, and that frequently, nurtures 
thought, and gives it strength and freshness. 

4* F 



82 BROADCAST. 

THAT the only sin which is unpardon- 
able is one committed against the Holy- 
Spirit, should affect us with profound awe 
toward him. While words are necessary in 
order to commit that sin, and while no one 
who has a trembling fear lest he may have 
committed it can possibly have done so, it 
must follow, from what is said of the unpar- 
donable sin, that all sins against the Holy 
Spirit are peculiarly heinous. 



DANIEL'S advice to Nebuchadnezzar de- 
serves to be pondered : " Wherefore, O 
king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, 
and break off thy sins by righteousness, and 
thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor." 
That which was good for the king is good 
for all. We do well to notice the very fre- 
quent connection in the Bible of alms-giving 
with being accepted of God. 



BROADCAST. 83 

" \ ^^ ^ e s P eecn pleased the Lord that 
.XV. Solomon had asked this thing." — God 
is a silent observer of our acts. Some of them 
give him as true pleasure as they do to a 
good man who should witness them. To please 
God is worth constant circumspection and 
effort. 



IT is wonderful how a full acceptance of 
Christ's righteousness by a very wicked 
man removes his sense of shame. Human 
society could not do it, even should it heap its 
honors upon him. But " the blood of Jesus 
Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 



GOD'S ways of treating us are, some of 
them, a rule and help in our treatment 
of others. For example, he covers our sins, 
and does not expose us ; is long-suffering ; and 
he is kind to the unthankful. 



84 BROADCAST. 

WE must expend more labor on the 
Church. Paul worked for it, wrote, 
prayed for it. It is good soil, it yields returns ; 
it furnishes the instruments by which God will 
convert the world. 



I 



F thou cast us out, suffer us to go away 



evil spirits once holy beings ? Since God may 
not be supposed to create demons, these evil 
spirits had been upright. Behold the change ! 
What end is there to the degradation made 
by sin ? When we fall from God, the pit is 
bottomless which receives us. 



« \ ND men for thy life." The fall of one 
JljL and another in the church and minis- 
try is one means of saving us. " And some 
of them of understanding shall fall, to try and 
purify and make them white." 



BROADCAST. 85 

u F I AHE old man." Old age is honorable, 
JL but " the old man " of whom Paul 
speaks is an object of aversion. He has the 
disagreeable peculiarities of age without its 
beauty and honor. He is obstinate, and pee- 
vish, and passionate, and unreasonable, and 
childish, doting, irresolute, and invincibly at- 
tached to his errors and follies, and to his 
sins. We each have " an old man " in us. 
With some he is their only nature. Others 
have also in them " the new man which 
after God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness." 



"13 ^^ Hezekiah rendered not again ac- 
XJ cording to the benefit done unto him, 
for his heart was lifted up." We blame him, 
we wonder at him, we mourn over him, and 
perhaps go and do likewise. Let us recall 
past benefits, dwell upon them before God, 
rehearse his goodness, be as grateful as though 
these benefits were fresh and new. 



86 BROADCAST. 

" \ ^"^ ^ e King °^ Sodom said to Abram, 
JL JL. 4 Give me the persons, and take the 
goods to thyself.' " This is also Satan's wish 
and proposal. He will give us " the goods," 
provided he may have " the persons." 



THE Bible is beautifully miscellaneous, 
like the woods. No methodized, syn- 
tactic, prim order, and borders. Every part 
is perfect, but the connection of the parts has 
all the lifelike variety of nature. 



a t I "\HE iniquity of the Amorites is not 
JL yet full." God thus seems to keep a 
measure near a wicked man, and the man is 
filling it. Hence his life is prolonged. So 
said the Saviour : " Fill ye up, therefore, the 
measure of your iniquities." 



BROADCAST. 87 

SEEMING success is not real, without 
God. It may lead to disaster. " For 
though ye had smitten the whole army of the 
Chaldeans that fight against you, and there 
remained but wounded men among them, yet 
they should rise up every man in his tent, and 
burn this city with fire." — So failure and dis- 
appointment, in God's hands, are frequently 
doors to great success. 



u /^\ THOU that hearest prayer, unto thee 
V^/ shall all flesh come " ; — for every 
one, whatever his present feelings, will see a 
time when he must pray. 



JOHN mistook a glorified prophet for an 
angel, Rev. xxii. 8. If departed friends 
should reappear to us in their heavenly state, 
we should do the same. 



88 BROADCAST. 

IF we repent, God hereafter makes our sins 
change to sources of blessing. Judas nev- 
er can know this. But if we are saved, God 
will make even our sins turn to good account. 
They will widen our sympathies with the re- 
deemed, make us appreciate redemption, qualify 
us for service. 



IT is the same as though in heaven the rocks 
were rending, the sun were darkened, the 
graves were opened, the Son of God were dy- 
ing, rising again. The atonement is having 
effect. Christ is making intercession for us. 



NOTICE the coincidence between Cor- 
nelius's and Peter's visions. They had 
the same object, — to bring the two men to- 
gether. So God is at work for us in different 
places at the same time. " How precious, also, 
are thy thoughts unto me, O God." 



BROADCAST. ^ 89 

EVERY Communion Sabbath the same re- 
proach may be laid against the Saviour 
at his table, as when he was on earth, — " This 
man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." 
But are they who now utter this reproach 
Pharisees, as formerly? 



# 



"1 JE that made him can make his sword 
JL X to approach unto him." These words, 
spoken of Behemoth, we may apply to a seem- 
ingly incorrigible sinner, to a cruel enemy, to 
an unfeeling creditor, to an unnatural relative. 



THE book of the Law was sprinkled with 
blood, showing two things; — 1. God's 
justice is satisfied by the atonement ; 2. Our 
obedience is accepted only through the sacrifice 
of Christ. 



90 BROADCAST. 

% 

HOW little do we feel that we have been 
pardoned. We rather fepl that once 
we were unhappy, and .now have hope. But 
we are released convicts, escaped criminals, 
ransomed captives, who had sold themselves. 
Should we sin so easily, if we remembered 
that we have had a just, eternal punishment 
remitted ? 



u |7M3R they cannot recompense thee." On 
JL doing good for its own sake, selecting 
cases where it seems impossible that we should 
get any returns for it in this world. Yet how 
rare that a good deed is not discovered. " But 
thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection 
of the just." We are tempted to say, Would 
that we might be allowed to do some good 
without being recompensed. Yet we must be. 
It is a law of the moral universe. It cannot 
be prevented, for those helpless ones whom we 
benefit here will blazon it in heaven. And 
what can we do ? 



iWldDCAST. 91 

* ^i "^H ; S is the message which we have 
JL hvi.^rJ v>f Him," — but what can it 
be, announced with such emphasis ? Sim- 
ply this, — " tl\ it God is light, and in him 
is no darKiiess at all." It seems, at first, 
almost a truism ; but reflect, and ponder it. 
Things seem dark to us, but not to Him. 
Were there no darkness in us, there would 
be no unbelief, no jealousies, hatred, no se- 
cret sins. 



THERE surely is that in God which in 
man we should ?all Humility; as, for 
example, in his being willing to institute a 
comparison between hLaself and idols. We 
can hardly speak of them and of him together 
without some sense of impropriety. But the 
Most High frequently enters into an argument 
with Israel as to his superiority to blocks of 
w r ood and stone. 



92 BROADCAST. 

AM AN and the horse, — this almost 
silly choice among offered royal gifts. 
He verifies that common name of a sinner in 
the Bible, — fool. Perhaps when every sinner 
and his choice are made public, the term will 
be seen to be equally just. Some young men 
will do well to think of this, especially in 
their Sabbath recreations. 



" A -^^ now men see not ^ e bright light 
jljL which is in the clouds ; but the wind 
passeth and cleanseth them"; — that is, Afflict- 
ive dispensations are inwardly bright, and are 
easily removed by a word from God. 



TRUTHFULNESS must pervade the 
whole character. " Behold, thou de- 
sirest truth in the inward parts." 



BROADCAST. 93 

Tx\KE a cheerful view of these words : 
" Let your moderation be known unto 
all men ; the Lord is at hand." Not merely- 
coming to judgment ; but, at hand to help, to 
avenge you ; hence be not disquieted ; mod- 
erate your resentments, your fears, your de- 
spondency. 



" ir T may be God will requite me good for 

A Ins cursing." We take part with an 

injured person, and the weaker side. God 

acts on every good principle which prevails 



among men. 



" \ ^^ s ^ e ^ are him Aaron and Moses." 
Xjl What a father and mother ! Why were 
two such sons conferred on one family ! God 
is sometimes affluent in gifts of one and the 
same kind. He is " able to do exceeding 
abundantly above all that we ask or think." 



94 . BROADCAST. 

" /\ ^^ ^eing^ * n an a g on y' h e prayed more? 
JL Jl. earnestly"; "And lie said, Abba, Fa- 
ther." — Agony made him more filial, more 
loving, more conscious of the Father's relatior 
to him. 



THINK of Christ as having common, 
practical views of things ; not as a 
sentimentalist and pietist. He cannot be de- 
ceived, nor be satisfied with our frames and 
professions, when our principles and conduct 
are not good. 



WE are apt to think and speak of good 
men in the Bible as though they were 
not sinners like us ; whereas they had the 
same frailties ; and their confessions of sin 
exceed ours. We know their evil deeds, but 
suppose that the private histories of those who 
speak against them were known. 



BROADCAST. 95 

CHRIST'S reply to one who invoked a 
blessing on his mother, shows that there 
is no prescriptive claim to eminence in his 
kingdom, not even by being mother to Jesus. 
Goodness alone opens the way, and that is 
sure, and is in no danger of being superseded, 
or turned aside by accident of birth. 



A DEAR Christian friend said to me, "I 
never overhear one praying without 
feeling impelled to pray for him, that his 
prayer may be answered." Blessed Inter- 
cessor and Advocate ! this is the case with 
Thee, whenever our voice in prayer reaches 
thine ear. 



"QURELY he hath borne our griefs." — 
kj Christ saw this trouble before I felt it. 
His heart was pierced by it before it pierced 
mine. 



96 BROADCAST. 

JOB'S scorn (ch. xxx.). Paul and Silas's 
spirited reply to the rulers who had im- 
prisoned them. John's detestation of heretics. 
Jude's denunciation of false teachers, and his 
description of their end. — But it is easier to 
imitate these right things in good men, than 
their humility and meekness. 



ANGELS met Jacob, not at the moment 
of need, but to prepare him for it. 
Our religious opportunities, in times of health 
and strength, are like these angels. Let us 
know the day of our visitation. 



WHEN baffled in our meditations upon 
the being of God, it is good to know 
that it was a truly devout man who said, 
" Touching the Almighty, we cannot find 
him out." 



T 



BROADCAST. 97 

HE first ear of corn, bunch of grapes, 
and early fruit of any kind, awakens a 
strange delight. " That we should be a kind 
of first-fruits of his creatures." James i. 18. 
It looks as though redeemed men would be 
such, in the view of other beings, owing to the 
infinite cost at which we have been produced in 
this most unpromising and once accursed field. 



THE Holy Spirit looked down through 
time to this very morning, and saw you 
in need of a word to instruct, comfort, or guide 
you. He caused Jabez, or Manasseh, or Ho- 
sea, or Paul, to say something, so many cen- 
turies ago, which should serve you to-day. So 
of every Christian, through time. 



I 



N Christ, we are as safe at the bar of God 
as Christ would be. 

5 o 



98 BROADCAST. 

THE place and use of Fear in religion. — 
It is a rebuke to those who make fond- 
ness the principal element in piety, that the 
chief exponent of religion is " the fear of the 
Lord." One whose piety is in danger of being 
too soft and flaccid will do well to read Cru- 
den's Concordance, under the word Fear, and 
its various connected uses. 



THINKING of dying, it seems unspeak- 
ably desirable to have begun in child- 
hood to fear and serve the glorious Lord God. 
"Remember now thy Creator, in the days of 
thy youth." 



u IT^OLLOW peace with all men, and holi- 
JL. ness," &c. Is a connection intimated 
here between these things ? Surely one is a 
means to the other, and indispensable to it. 



BROADCAST. 99 

" t I ^HEY came to the iron gate, which 
JL opened to them of his own accord." 
Beautiful fiction, as though a celestial hand 
were not moving it. And yet, things being 
described in the Bible as they appear, it is 
strictly true. So do inflexible circumstances 
change, and insuperable hinderances move out 
of the way, when God is at work for us. 



GREAT and awful judgments were in- 
flicted at the opening of the Gospel, on 
Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas, &c, with a 
view, no doubt, to give the impression that 
the Gospel was not intended as a truce to sin. 



" T WILL be a God to thee." What must 
A this be ? He is not a Q-od to the wicked, 
any more than lightning is nature. 



100 BROADCAST. 

u TW TOW, therefore, put away Ashtaroth," 
JL ^1 &c. Some favored sin is the cause 
of every departure from God, and lies at the 
foundation of an impenitent state. In every 
case of impenitence, the renunciation of some 
particular sin would powerfully help toward 
regeneration. 



INSTEAD of David being peculiar in the 
use of imprecations, as we might be led 
to suppose from common remarks about him, 
what sacred writer does not use them, or 
quote them ? 



ISRAEL could not drive out the inhabitants 
of the plain (Judges i.) because they had 
" chariots of iron." Yet God was w T ith Judah. 
True, but He would not always work miracles. 
Here is an instance of Divine power regarding 
the natural force of circumstances. 



BROADCAST. 101 

WHY was Paul translated? Did Christ 
long to have him with him in heaven, 
and so anticipate his decease? Did Paul need 
it to confirm his faith, and so to insure him, by 
the help of means, which God always honors, 
against apostasy ? Was it needful to place this 
buttress against the great Apostle's faith in the 
Gospel and his confidence in Christ under his 
unparalleled trials? 



GOD is often called " a Rock," and " my 
Rock," by David, no doubt because he 
had had such experience of Rocks for refuge 
and defence. He does not mean a block of 
stone, but a natural fortress. 



H 



OW do " others, which have no hope,' 
" sorrow " ? 



102 BROADCAST. 

" t | "\HOU hast bought me no sweet cane 
JL with money." Sweet cane, of course, 
is nothing to God. How condescending in 
Him to specify such a thing, intimating its 
acceptableness as a token of our love. Hence, 
whatever offering we consecrate to him, he 
recognizes it ; and he misses our gifts if we 
bring him nothing. 



THE prophet Zechariah's two staves with 
which he fed the flock were named by 
him " Beauty and Bands," teaching us that, 
while enforcing obligation, reproving, rebuking, 
and exhorting, (all which >is "Bands,") we 
must have love, and goodness, and consistency, 
and due ornament and grace, be tasteful and 
not rough, complaisant and not rude, adapt 
ourselves to the sensibilities of man as well as 
to his understanding and conscience. All this 
is Beauty. "With these," said he, U I fed 
the flock." 



BROADCAST. 103 

THE connection between secret prayer 
and the right kind of popularity: — 
" And in the morning, rising up a great 
while before day, he went out and departed 
into a solitary place, and there prayed. And 
Simon and they that were with him followed 
after him. And when they had found him, 
they said unto him, All men seek for thee." 
— While you are praying, God may be at 
work for you even in distant parts of the 
earth, or near at hand, preparing events and 
the hearts of men for your good, and for your 
greater usefulness ; and will " reward thee 
openly." 



THE purpose of Christ to keep and save 
every soul intrusted to him, breaks out 
even in the incidental danger of his disciples 
at his arrest : " If ye seek me, let these go 
their way; — that the saying might be fulfilled, 
" Of all which thou gavest me, I have lost 
none." 



104 BROADCAST. 

a \ ^^ ^ e was ^ ere w hen Jerusalem was 
jLjL taken"; — that weeping- prophet who 
had expostulated, and stood in the breach to 
turn away the people from ruin, — he was 
there when the ruin came. So faithful minis- 
ters of Christ will be present when the final 
ruin which they have depicted comes upon 
some of their hearers. It was hard for Jeru- 
salem to look on Jeremiah as she fell before 
the enemy. 



T 



HERE are hinderances to conversion. 

Unfaithfulness in secular things is named 
as one, in Luke xvi. 11. " If ye have not 
been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who 
shall commit to your trust the true riches ?" 
We wonder at the continued ill-success of 
preaching in certain cases. There is in each 
of these cases a secret cause which nullifies 
the effect of our labors, and that cause is some 
form of sin, obstinate rebellion against known 
duty, cleaving to some idol. 



BROADCAST. 105 

ON having an adversary, Ps. cix. 6. God 
can raise us up one, who will never 
hear or see our name but with implacable 
hatred. We should avoid this. No one 
should be defied. Yet he may be a blessing 
in disguise, to make us watchful over our 
words and conduct, " lest mine enemy rejoice 
over me, and they that hate me be glad 
when I am moved." — Let no one of us be 
an adversary to any one. — " Let mine adver- 
sary be as the wicked " ; that is, if I must have 
one, .let him not be a good man, but a bad 
man. Then, if we are right, the end of his 
chain will be in the hand of Christ. 



SUPPOSE that two thirds of our sun 
should be constantly eclipsed. Health, 
the arts, vegetation, life, would suffer. If we 
do not receive Christ and the Holy Spirit as 
revealed in the Bible, two thirds of the God- 
head are eclipsed to us. 

5* 



106 BROADCAST. 

A CERTAIN joyful though humble con- 
fidence becomes us when we pray in 
the Mediator's name. It is due to him; when 
we pray in his name it should be " without 
wavering." Remember his merits, and how 
prevalent they must be. " Let us therefore 
come boldly unto the throne of grace." 
"Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to en- 
ter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, — 
let us draw near." 



THE Holy Spirit is as distinctively the 
author of the Bible, as Christ is iden- 
tified with the Cross. Let us think of the 
Book as his design and production, framed as 
his instrument in his official work. He made 
the Psalms, and the books of Esther and 
Ruth, and the Proverbs, and every book of 
the canon, to answer particular purposes, and 
all to make up a volume sufficient for every 
object which he ever meant to accomplish* 



BROADCAST. 107 

PERHAPS the inhabitants ot this world 
are the only fallen race except fallen 
angels. If so, see the infinite importance of 
everything relating to this world. How sol- 
emn to live here, to be one of this race, to 
exert an influence upon it, to be an ambassador 
for Christ. 



ON sinning against the Preserver of men, 
— the God who has given us so 
many happy returns, preserved us in long 
journeys and voyages, as well as in great 
snares of temptation. " I have sinned, what 
shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of 
men ? " 



SCRIPTURAL way to prosperity: "By 
humility and the fear of the Lord are 
riches, and honor, and life." 



108 BROADCAST. 

NAOMI'S telling her daughters-in-law to 
return from her, is like giving inquirers 
and young Christians fair notice of all which 
they will lose by following Christ. Let them 
count the cost. So the Saviour advised. 
"Lord, I will follow thee." "Foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, 
but the Son of man hath not where to lay 
his head." 



THE Holy Ghost selects ministers. And 
the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me 
Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
I have appointed them." Vacant churches, 
remember this. 



CHRIST "marvelled at their unbelief." 
We give him occasion to do so. He 
must greatly love and honor faith. We must 
not depend on frames of mind, but walk by 
faith. 



BROADCAST. 109 

EVEN when the Mediatorship is ended, 
the enlightening and guiding influences 
of the Holy Spirit, which are not in their 
nature temporary, but belong to his Divine 
nature, will no doubt be employed for the 
advancement of redeemed souls in knowledge 
forever. And so that gratitude, which now 
we owe him for every good thought and right 
feeling, will swell to a boundless debt, till our 
love toward him may not be exceeded even 
by our love to the Redeemer. Notice a word 
used by Paul in connection with the Holy 
Spirit, and also the recognition of the Sacred 
Three in one verse : " Now I beseech you for 
the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love 
of the Spirit, that ye strive together in your 
prayers to God for me." 



BALAAM, Gehazi, Judas, Ananias, were 
not recovered, while others were. What 
was the one sin of those men ? Covetousness. 



110 BROADCAST. 

A SHORT crop in this country deranges 
the finances. No country is more im- 
mediately dependent on God than we. But 
what a responsibility it is to take charge of 
suns, and showers, and winds, day by day 
and at the same time to rule the cabinets, 
and plan for you and make your little child 
well of fever, and hear your prayers and put 
your tears into his bottle. What a God ! 
who would sin against Him ? " O that men 
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and 
for his wonderful works to the children of 
men!" 



HOW free the Israelites were with their 
offerings when a false god was to be 
made ! So men are free and lavish in their 
amusements, their pleasures, their dress, dwell- 
ings, and equipage, and backward in the cause 
of Christian benevolence, until their love to 
God reaches the same level with their former 
love of self. 



BROADCAST. Ill 

HAD not the translators left some pas- 
sages obscure, and perhaps equivocal, 
each sect would have had its Bible. Now all 
can put their own interpretation on those places. 
The Bible is thus like a portrait, which seems 
to every one in the room to be looking specially 
at him. 



THE last words of God on Sinai to 
Moses (Exodus xxxi.) had reference to 
the observance of the Sabbath. After a long 
interview, and when we have given instruc- 
tions to one who is to serve us, the thing 
which we dwell upon just at parting, repeating 
it with special emphasis, is a thing to which 
we attach great importance. 



« rp H E world " has no " Comforter." 
A (John xiv. 17.) 



112 BROADCAST. 

"■TH^OR he seeth wickedness also; will he 
JL not then consider it ? " We meditate 
and dwell on a base act, analyze it, and con- 
stantly abhor it. What if God thus dwells 
upon our acts of evil-doing? Sometimes he 
makes us feel that he does so. Thus David : 
"Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our 
secret sins in the light of thy countenance." 



NO one, probably, was ever disappointed 
at finding himself in heaven. Many 
have been and will be disappointed in not 
finding themselves there. 



^ ~\ T^^T constitutes covetousness ? We 
V ? need to know ; for is there more said 
against any one sin, or said in stronger terms, 
in the New Testament, than against this ? 



BROADCAST. 113 

i\ and set them up for his pillow, and 
lay down in that place to sleep." So w r e 
may do everywhere and always, — the cir- 
cumstances of every condition, no matter 
how unforbidding and repulsive, aifording us 
always, if we will, a source of rest and con- 
solation. 



HERE I am on the shore of the sea. 
What if the sea were veiled, and I 
had never beheld it, and yet had often walked 
on its coasts. So the invisible world, and that 
" otfean we must sail so soon," lie close at 
hand, concealed. 



MARK, writing under directions from' 
Peter, omits to praise him as the 
other Evangelists indirectly do; but he gives 
his faults most fully. 



114 BROADCAST. 

AFTER talking with one who was anx- 
ious about his spiritual state, but with 
no fixed belief of anything, and seemingly in- 
capable of coherent views of things, I have 
been instructed by seeing men drive piles 
into a loose soil. The object is to get one 
pile at a time firmly fixed. So we should 
aim to fix some one truth in the mind, and 
it is comparatively of little consequence what 
the truth is, the object being simply to ex- 
cite faith. 



ONE great error of the Perfectionists is 
this : They expect to get into a state, — 
a state in which they will not sin. One was 
probably saved from that delusion by asking 
her, one wintry day, if she ever expected to 
get into a state of not slipping on the ice ? — 
The Christian life is a slippery way up to the 
very gate of the heavenly city, and even while 
entering. " Hold thou me up, and I shall 
be safe." 



BROADCAST, 115 

" IV /T Y covenant was with him (Levi) of 
..?1 life and peace." Mai. ii. 5. God's 
covenant with ministers. When they are right 
and good, they must be a great joy to Him 
who chooses to work by instruments, and " has 
need " of these laborers, " workers together 
with God." They may expect covenant bless- 



TAKE salvation as freely as you would 
buy it, if you had the means, or as you 
would buy any worldly commodity. " Ho 
every one that thirsteth, — and he that hath no 
money, — come ye, — buy, — without money." 



PERFECTNESS under an administration 
of grace is consistent with indwelling 
sin, strong temptations, lapses, in short, with 
being imperfect, the individual being sincerely 
a follower of Christ. 



116 BROADCAST. 

JOAB directed his main attack against the 
auxiliar force, 1 Chron. xix. This was 
good generalship. They had no homes and 
country there to fight for, and could be 
more easily discomfited, and the effect of 
routing them would be to dismay the Syrians. 
The Bible is rich in its incidental instruc- 
tions. Was a man ever in circumstances to 
which there is nothing corresponding in the 
Bible ? 



IN religion, " pietism," that is, frames, emo- 
tions, meditative religion, — very beautiful 
often, but without activity, — corresponds to 
that which in painting is called " still-life." 



WELL might the Saviour sing at the 
Supper, looking beyond those few fol- 
lowing days. 



BROADCAST. 117 

THERE must have been more appear- 
ances of Christ in the Old Testament 
than we usually find, judging from the fre- 
quent mention, in the New Testament, of his 
agency under the old dispensation. 



PAUL came to Troas, and found a wide 
door opened to him, but had no rest 
because he found not Titus his brother. We 
love him for this touch of innocent weak- 
ness. So he beseeches Timothy to do dili- 
gence, and come to him, telling who had for- 
saken him. 



WAS Paul ever " forsaken " by any ? 
Did any leave his ministry for insuffi- 
cient reasons ? We are glad to know it, if it 
were so. (2 Tim. iv. 10, 16.) 



118 BROADCAST. 

N'OTICE the unstudied, but wonderful 
expressions about Christ, in the proph- 
ets and in the New Testament. They drop 
without system, are mostly incidental, yet 
each is beyond explanation unless Christ be 
divine, and all together they have that pecu- 
liar power which cumulative evidence has on 
a jury, the weightier for being somewhat dis- 
joined, and without concert. 



REPRESENTATIVE guilt and punish- 
ment appear in these words : — " That 
on you may come all the righteous blood from 
Abel." 



« TJ EARKEN, and serve the King of 
A A Babylon." Humiliating word! So, 
submit to chastisement, mortifying, bitter to 
pride, if God clearly appoints it. 



BROADCAST. 119 

THE " three " who appeared to Abraham, 
as he sat in his tent-door, we do not sup- 
pose had designed reference to the Three that 
bear record in heaven ; yet do Christians ever 
have any experience of communion with those 
" Three " together ? Why not ? Christ says, 
" My Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him." O 
never-to-be-forgotten experience, if, in some 
season of great sorrow or trial, you had a sense 
of being visited by the Sacred Three ! 



GOD appeals to the mountains as judges 
between him and his people, Micah vi. 
Beautiful condescension to our habits of 
thought. He is willing to leave the case to 
referees. We have very limited conceptions 
of the gentleness of God. The passages which 
bring it to view are chiefly in the Old Testa- 
ment. A rejoinder, here, to allegations against 
that book. 



120 BROADCAST. 

A COMMON idea with many of being 
u an excellent Christian " is, to be kind 
to the poor, upright, obliging, courteous ; — 
leaving out of the case a work of God upon 
the heart. . But many who have this work 
have all these moral and social qualities also. 



TO be baptized in the name of the 
Holy Spirit, to be blessed in his name 
in the Christian benediction, as really prove 
his personality and deity, as baptism and ben- 
ediction prove the personality of the Father. 



AND some believed the words which 
were spoken, and some believed not." 
Acts ' (last chapter). It is very much so 
when other ministers than Paul reason and 
preach. Let them not be disheartened. 



BROADCAST. 121 

THE inspection of a single bone will 
sometimes enable the comparative anat- 
omist to describe in general the structure of 
an unknown animal. There are passages of 
Scripture having no connection with any argu- 
ment for a system, which reveal a system, or 
some fundamental truth. For example, Paul 
says to the Galatians, " Was Paul crucified 
for you ? " Here is a recognition, the more 
impressive for its being incidental, of the vica- 
rious sacrifice of Christ. Hero is another in- 
stance : " Destroy not him with thy meat for 
whom Christ died." 



* IT THEREFORE askest thou after my 
\ ¥ name, seeing it is secret ? " Con- 
sider the value and beauty of privacy in re- 
ligion, as regards some experiences which 
never can be mentioned without both break- 
ing a certain charm in them to ourselves, 
and incurring the suspicion of fanaticism, or 
at least presumption. 

6 



122 BROADCAST. 

" 'TT^HE Lord hath set apart him that is 
JL godly for himself." We look with 
interest upon the article which the manufac- 
turer of some rare and valuable product, or 
upon the lot of land which a land proprietor, 
has set apart for himself. No godly person 
escapes the eye of God. " The Lord's por- 
tion is his people." " Israel is his peculiar 
inheritance." 



TO be melancholy after confession and 
repentance implies a want of faith in 
God. " Be of good cheer, thy sins are for- 
given thee." 



REPENTANCE is the sorrow of love. 
It is doubtful whether we ever repent 
towards any one till touched with some gen- 
tle emotion toward him. Is it not so with 
repentance toward God? 



BROADCAST. 123 

"^QUESTIONING with themselves what 
V^/ the rising from the dead should mean." 
Reading the bold, clear arguments of the 
Apostles on that subject, it is encouraging to 
think of their early ignorance, and to see 
how the course of events and experience will 
instruct and advance those who thirst for 
Christian knowledge. 



"TF he were on earth, he would not be a 
A priest." But why? — Because his own 
death and blood invested him with the priestly 
office. — Here w r e have an indirect testimony 
to the sacrificial nature of our Saviour's char- 
acter and office. 



CHRIST lay in the grave the whole of 
the Jewish Sabbath, but the whole of 
no other day. 



124 BROADCAST. 

"/"T^HE kings of the earth, and all the 
JL inhabitants of the world, would not 
have believed that the adversary and the 
enemy should have entered into the gates of 
Jerusalem." Lam. iv. 12. So ministers, and 
professed Christians of eminent reputation, may 
astonish others by their perdition. God will 
show his infinite greatness by his independence 
of the greatest of men and of angels. 



ON being guileless. " Behold an Israelite 
indeed, in whom is no guile." — Yet 
Nathaniel was only a man; sinful man, there- 
fore, can secure such approbation from Christ. 



DANIEL charged Belshazzar with two 
things : 1. Not improving by his father's 
sins and punishment ; 2. Not glorifying God. 



BROADCAST. 125 

GOD sees our imperfections more than we. 
" Faithful are the wounds of a friend." 
That enemy of yours was employed by God 
to tell you a cutting but needful truth. Turn 
away your resentment, and be grateful to God 
for letting you see yourself. The prayer you 
uttered a month or two since, " Search me, O 
God, and know my heart," has just now been 
answered in this reproach, this backbiting, this 
bitter enmity. 



WARNINGS are ineffectual in them- 
selves. We would have supposed that 
the fall of Judas would have made the eleven 
disciples keep closer to Christ, instead of for- 
saking him, or following afar off. 



H 



OPELESS deaths: "And Aaron held 
his peace." 



126 BROADCAST. 

WE are honored in having no lower 
standard proposed to us than perfec- 
tion, God himself. " Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father in heaven is perfect." 
This sometimes excites querulous remarks, as 
though it were severe, an impossible exac- 
tion. But it should be our glory and joy. 
How would w^e have it? Shall the best of 
men, or angels, be our standard ? No ; God 
is the goal after which we are to aspire. 



"-XTI THAT continuance hath an image in 
yt a glass, if the man turn away his 
face ? " So if God withdraw, what becomes 
of his image in our souls ? Angelic perfection 
is only a creature. How far our native cor- 
ruption will work if it be irritated, and God 
suspends the influence of his grace, we may 
have seen in the case of others, but the great- 
est illustration of it we shall find in our own 
temptations. 



BROADCAST. 127 

"TV TOT by water only, but by water and 
±. ^1 blood." We cannot be saved by 
outward washings, reformations, observances. 
Blood must atone for our sins. We cannot 
be saved merely by being good, and we can- 
not be saved without it. " By water and 
blood." 



OBLIGATION is not to be measured 
by moral ability ; for then there would 
be as many standards as there are individuals 
and their degrees of ability. There is one 
standard for all, and that is God. Our 
moral impotence does not change it, nor les- 
sen its obligation. 



"fTMIE High-Priest asked Jesus of his 
JL disciples." What an inquiry just at 
that time, and under those circumstances. 



128 BROADCAST. 

" y\ -^^ God hath both raised up the Lord, 
.ZjL and will also raise up us by his own 
power.'' Here is identification of the believer 
with Christ; a parallelism of our resurrection 
and that stupendous event, — the resurrection 
of Christ. Notice the act of God, the Father, 
in raising us from the dead, while it is also the 
frequently asserted prerogative of Christ. 



SUPPOSE that Christ had stood for us 
instead of Adam, as our federal head ? 
How safe we should have been. He has stood 
for us, our second Adam. How safe we are 
in him. 



u A LL things were made by him and for 
Jl\. him," — namely, these relationships, 
these affections, these talents and opportuni- 
ties, as well as those planetary worlds. 



BROADCAST. 129 

DO not always dwell on " ability " in the 
sinner. " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar- 
jona ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it 
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
Set men to search and pray for things which, 
with all their ability, they must receive as free 
gifts to the undeserving. 



T 



HOU art weighed in the balances." 
Our sins will go into the same side 
of the balance with the law of God, to weigh 
against us. But what if Christ and his right- 
eousness be counted on our part against them ? 



DANIEL did not call Belshazzar to re- 
pentance, as he did Nebuchadnezzar. 
His doom was fixed. His sin was unto death. 
" I do not say that he shall pray for it." 

6* I 



130 BROADCAST. 

THE Saviour taking those three men to 
watch at the gate of Gethsemane while 
he suffered, teaches us the use and the true 
way of showing sympathy to the afflicted. 
We all crave it ; so did Christ. Draw near 
to the afflicted. It was that which Christ 
desired, and not much speaking. 



NO doubt whole households will here and 
there be seen in the world of sin and 
suffering, — father, mother, brother, sister, hav- 
ing made that unprofitable gain of the world 
for the soul, and now losing both. 



NOAH'S ark in itself was a " vain thing 
for safety." Putting to sea in it in 
such a flood was safe only because the cove- 
nant of God made it so. 



BROADCAST. 131 

WE must not expect sorrows and suf- 
ferings as unmitigated attendants upon 
growing old. To many aged people we have 
seen that word fulfilled in their serene or even 
joyful frames of mind : " And thine age shall 
be oWrer than the noonday." 



u ] OVE his appearing." Wicked servants 
1 J and children do not love the sudden 
appearing of the master and father. But to 
love the appearing of Christ is one character- 
istic, mentioned in the New Testament, of 
Christians. 



BOAZ on his sheaves, his heart merry 
with wine, and with Ruth at his feet, 
unknown to him, is a picture of happiness 
approaching one whom God has designed to 
bless. 



182 BROADCAST. 

WE cannot express the direct and indi- 
rect help which we have derived in 
trouble from passages of Scripture. We think 
in them, in a large measure,- — they seem to 
be the currency of our minds at such times. 
" This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy 
word hath quickened me." 



CHRIST atoned on Calvary for all those 
sins which now trouble your conscience. 
Now you endure some of the consequences 
of those sins, but the guilt of them was atoned 
for. Go in peace, in view of this. 



SUPPOSE that this and that individual, 
whom we can name, should meet vis in 
hell ? Let us imagine the interview, have a 
good conscience toward him now, and flee 
from the wrath to come. 



BROADCAST. 133 

IT is noticeable that, after such striking 
events as preceded Samson's birth, his life 
and death should have been so full of painful 
conflict ; but he is mentioned with honor, in 
Hebrews xi., among those who by faith gained 
a good report. If God honors us or our chil- 
dren with early signs of his favor, it may be 
that we and they may suffer for him. But 
then we shall glorify him. 



HE had risen, he had been in heaven, 
he had finished the work of redemp- 
tion, and yet this infinite Redeemer meets a 
company of weary and hungry friends on the 
sea-shore, and having with his own hands 
kindled a fire and laid fish thereon, he says 
to them, " Come and dine." Condescending 
Friend ! no service for us is beneath thee. 
Common blessings are all thy gifts. Thou 
wouldst wash the feet of every friend of 
thine, if it were necessary. 



134 Broadcast. 

SEE how they marked off and parcelled 
out Canaan, yet unconquered, " By 
faith they subdued kingdoms." One king had 
nine hundred chariots of iron. What of this ? 
He too was marked out for conquest. So 
let us lay out plans of usefulness, seek the 
conversion of individuals, benefit classes of 
people, attempt reformations, notwithstanding 
discouragements and opposition, and seek to 
conquer the world for Christ. 



WE have afflicted God with our sins 
more than he ever afflicted us by 
trials. "Thou hast wearied me with thine 
iniquities." • 



WHEN tempted, fall to praying, and Sa- 
tan, rather than do you so much good, 
will desist. Thus "resist the devil, and he 
will flee from you." 



BROADCAST. 135 

CONSIDERING the pre-existence of fallen 
angels and their history, the first men- 
tion of them in the Bible is beautifully simple, 
and in accordance with the Divine plan not to 
disclose things prematurely. " Now the serpent 
was more subtle than any beast of the field 
which the Lord God had made, and he said 
unto the woman," &c. Had the existence and 
agency of fallen spirits been directly asserted, 
it would have made explanations necessary 
which would have been out of place in the 
chronology of revelation. 



" \ SLEEP on a pillow." It was a delib- 
JTjL erate sleep. He had not sunk down 
accidentally; but though he knew the storm 
was coming, he took a pillow and went to 
sleep. When we have done our duty, and 
nothing remains for us to do, we may safely 
commit all to God, and take our rest in 
safety. 



136 BROADCAST- 

IT would be difficult to mention a class of 
individuals to whom something in the 
Saviour's life does not apply. It is pleasant 
to think that, by his unseen direction, the 
thirty pieces of silver for which he was be- 
trayed were appropriated to buy a strangers' 
burying-place. O ye who wander over the 
earth feeling homeless and desolate, consider 
that Jesus thought of the stranger and the 
homeless, and identified them with one of 
the intensely interesting events connected with 
his sufferings and death. One of his specifi- 
cations to the righteous in his approval of 
them at the final judgment is, "For I was 
a stranger and ye took me in." 



ft T fE is able to subdue all things unto 
JL JL himself"; — those hard cases of ir- 
religion, that opposition, all this wealth and 
talent, this whole population. Therefore pray, 
labor, wait, and do not " make haste." 



BROADCAST. 137 

« rT^HOU art the God that doest wonders." 
JL And these wonders will never cease. 
We are repeatedly surprised by them, and we 
shall be. Things will not proceed according 
to our low and feeble measures. We are to 
expect great things while God reigns, " who 
only doeth wondrous things." They will be 
in proportion to our humble, consistent, patient 
faith. " Said I not unto thee," said Jesus to 
Martha, at her brother's grave, "that if 
thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the 
glory of God ? " 



ON becoming a Christian, we convert 
everything into a friend and helper, 
whereas before everything was liable to be 
against us. A sinner's conscience gives him 
constant alarm and pain till its voice is silenced. 
But on becoming a Christian, he invokes its 
aid : — 

" Conscience, whom I with opiates plied, 
Now wake and be my faithful guide." 



138 BROADCAST. 

a V TAVING food and raiment, let us be* 
J. JL therewith content.'' A small inven- 
tory of possessions. But there is nothing else 
which may not be a source of annoyance and 
sorrow. If God gives us more, let us receive 
it, but only as stewards, and not build our 
happiness upon it. — One of our richest men 
told his confidential clerk, when he applied 
for the place, that the wages would be his 
food and clothing. In reply to his remon- 
strance, the rich man said, " That is all 
which I ever received from my whole prop- 
erty." 



" U 0WBEIT > not a11 that came out of 
JL X .Egypt by Moses." Is it possible 
that, after such experience, any of them could 
fail of the promised land ? Then we will 
not presume upon our supposed conversion, 
nor upon the signs of God's favor in times 
past, but continually labor to enter into that 
rest. 



N' 



BROADCAST. 139 

OTICE some gentle rebukes of unbe- 
lt ^1 lief; for example: Moses was not com- 
manded to smite the rock the second time, 
but simply to speak to it. Again, Samuel did 
not sacrifice a thousand oxen when he would 
assure Israel of Divine help against Philistia ; 
he offered " a sucking lamb." 



THE spoils of Samaria, gathered after the 
retreat of its army, and during a famine 
in Jerusalem, show the unthought-of ways in 
which God can come to our relief in the 
greatest extremity. " Trust in him at all 
times." 



HERE is a prescription of holy writ in 
cases of despondency : " O my God, 
my soul is cast down within me ; therefore I 
will remember thee." What could be better ? 



140 BROADCAST. 

THERE are many instructions to be 
gathered from the words of Christ 
which are profitable in the formation of char- 
acter and the guidance of conduct, though 
not essential to salvation. For example, He 
inculcates modesty : " When thou art bid- 
den of any man to a feast," &c. He ad- 
monishes us to act in secret, under the ap- 
prehension that our most private words and 
deeds may be known. " Whatsoever is spo- 
ken in the ear," &c. He teaches us to con- 
sider the incapacity of some to appreciate our 
good things, and so not to cast our pearls 
before swine. An obliging disposition, a read- 
iness to do a kind act, are enjoined by the 
general rule, " Give to him that asketh of 
thee," &c. 



IF God takes away earthly objects, however 
important and dear, that he may himself 
fill the vacant places, he honors you. " Let 
him do what seemeth him good." 



BROADCAST. 141 

" X^l OD left him, to try him, that he 
vJ might know all that was in his 
heart." So with us : and all through life 
the painful lessons which we thereby learn 
keep us humble, make us watchful, and are 
among the most powerful means, of insuring 
our salvation. 



SELECT one of the many specifications in 
the Saviour's injuries at his trial, and 
during the time preceding and following, and 
dwell upon it. For example, " And the ser- 
vants did strike him with the palms of their 
hands." 



THE interview between Jesus and his 
mother after his resurrection is not re- 
corded. One might almost say, that the inspi- 
ration of the Bible is as clearly seen in that 
which is omitted as in its actual contents. 



142 BROADCAST. 

ON the arrival of some great event, some 
emergency, some critical and all-impor- 
tant turn in your affairs, you cannot pray. 
The mind is too much excited for anything 
more than ejaculations. They are heard ; but 
how good it is, then, to reflect that, while there 
were no excitements, you maintained prayer 
and walked with God, irrespective of passing 
events. Now he will " rew r ard thee openly." 



« \ ND the 
JTjL It mic 



ND the ruin of that house was great." 
might have been u a habitation of 
God through the Spirit." Christ was often 
seen at its door ; the Holy Spirit was often 
heard within striving with some one to do 
him good ; blessings from heaven arrived there 
without number ; it was filled " jvith pleasant 
riches"; it might have been an eternal habita- 
tion. But it fell, "and great was the fall 
of it." 



BROADCAST. 143 

FROM what sins is Christ saving me ? 
" He shall save his people from their 
sins." Not merely from their future conse- 
quences. Nor is his object merely to give us 
hope. Hence you who despond because your 
hope is feeble, repent, forsake sin, believe, be 
redeemed from all iniquity. This was the pur- 
pose of Christ's death, and not merely to give 
you a comfortable expectation of heaven. 



u 1 JE went down to Capernaum, he and 
JL A his mother and his brethren and his 
disciples ; and they continued there not many 
days." It was a pleasant gathering ; it must 
have been a heaven on earth ! But rest, 
and those rich enjoyments, ; w T ere, for him, 
" not many days." He must be about his 
Father's business. We have snatches of bliss 
here in our meetings with Christian friends ; 
but this is not our rest. 



144 BROADCAST. 

A TRANSLATOR and a commentator 
ought to be men of faith. Otherwise 
the words of inspiration passing through their 
minds are robbed of their beautiful freedom, 
and come to us in a cold and rigid shape. 
There is an artlessness in inspiration which a 
man of mere exactness, and, much more, a 
doubting man, utterly destroys. It is painful 
to read his translations and comments. 



AFIELD of tall, ripe grain, bowing under 
a gentle wind, looks like a great wor- 
shipping host, under one and the same impulse 
of heavenly joy. Each of those stalks has its 
root, its distinct organization, its full number 
of grains ; it has enjoyed the culture of the 
husbandman and the sweet influences of the 
heavens. God has done as much for it as for 
its neighbor, knows it as well ; and a part of 
its duty and service in return is to make one 
in a harvest-field. 



BROADCAST. 145 

* 1 f OWL, fir-tree, for the cedar is fall- 
JL A en." The removal of great and good 
men from posts of usefulness, when they are 
succeeded by inferior and unworthy men, is 
a divine judgment. " And I will give chil- 
dren to be their princes, and babes shall rule 
over them." 



ACTING on coincidences without judg- 
ment, and seeing providences without 
due reflection, is as bad as trusting to 
dreams. We may get useful hints from 
dreams, but they are not our guide. Wis- 
dom and discretion must judge as to the 
inferences to be drawn from them. 



ESCAPES from imminent danger have an 
effect sometimes on good people to make 
them feel safe. God was there. 

7 j 



146 BROADCAST. 

WAS it accidental or designed, that Paul, 
in addressing the two ministers, Tim- 
othy and Titus, should add " mercy " to the 
"grace and peace " with which he addressed 
every Church to whom his Epistles are 
directed ? To these he says, " Grace be unto 
you and peace " ; but to the ministers he 
says, " Grace, mercy, and peace." Peter also 
says, " Grace and peace," only, to Christians. 
We ministers specially need the " mercy," — 
from others, for our mistakes, and our inca- 
pacity ; and from God, for our sins, which 
must be worse than those of others. 



THE selection of Canaan for " the Holy 
Land," the Arab race, and other things 
related thereto, are striking illustrations of the 
providence of God coinciding with seemingly 
fixed inevitable laws and events, as though all 
were not originally designed and made ex- 
pressly for the purposes of Redemption. 



BROADCAST. 147 

WHAT impression may the Bible be fairly 
said to have made on the world as to 
essential truths? what, amidst and underneath 
all that is denominational and sectarian, do 
we find to be accepted by all who receive the 
Bible as "the word of God"? On every 
principle of common sense those truths are the 
truths of God's word. 



REPENTANCE is impossible where there 
is no atonement for sin. This is capable 
of a strong argument. The bearing of this 
truth on the future condition of the wicked, 
when there shall be "no more sacrifice for 
sin," is obvious. 



IF wicked men could have the Most High 
in their power, it is not difficult to see 
what they would do with him. 



148 BROADCAST. 

THE thought of never coming back to 
this world, of leaving it at once and 
forever, is deeply affecting. We shall be 
glad if it be better for our having lived in it. 
" The world and all that is therein shall be 
burnt up." Even if we inhabit this globe 
again, we shall recognize nothing, if every- 
thing shall have been burnt up. Now is our 
time to work for the good of the world. 



THE penitent thief had a better right- 
eousness in which to appear before 
God than the most accomplished moralist in 
the Sanhedrim. 



WHAT a good kingdom this must be, 
of which it is said, it " is not meat 
and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost." 



BROADCAST. 149 

SEE the natural connection here : " Full 
of goodness, filled with all knowledge, 
able, also, to admonish one another." We do 
not willingly suffer one to occupy this last po- 
sition, unless he answers to the first two parts 
of the description. All such are gladly listened 
to when they admonish. 



DREAMS will no doubt be surpassed 
hereafter by realities ; some of them 
exquisitely pleasurable and others inconceiva- 
bly dreadful. " Dull sleep instructs, nor sport 



BE reverent in all expressions of love to 
God ; for forms of speech are defences 
against improprieties. The Saviour is our 
example and pattern in addressing God. 



150 BROADCAST. 

CHRIST was to Adam a man, to Abra- 
ham a Hebrew, to Moses a prophet, to 
Isaiah a man of sorrows, to David a king, to 
Daniel a suffering, sacrificed Messiah. There 
is a progression, now, in the minds of many 
respecting Christ. Let them not be discour- 
aged. "Unto you that fear my name shall 
the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in 
his w T ings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow up 
like calves of the stall." . 



WHEN the end of a trial is evidently 
near, we see how easy it is for God 
to clear the darkest skies ; we generally find 
that all has happeried in the best time; we 
are sorry at impatience ; we perhaps feel 
grateful for the subduing and softening influ- 
ence of the trial, and we may well fear lest 
with relief we forget God. " The Lord will 
speak peace unto his people and to his saints ; 
but let them not turn again to folly." 



BROADCAST. 151 

THE Saviour went three times into 
Gethseinane on that night of his agony. 
We must not expect that a single prayer of 
ours, or one effort, will accomplish any great 
thing for our souls or for the souls of others. 
The Saviour came back from Gethsemane 
with these words on his lips, — a result of 
his experience there : " Watch and pray 
that ye enter not into temptation." 



WHEN David saw that the Lord had 
answered him in the threshing-floor 
of Oman, he sacrificed to him there. We do 
well to identify our acknowledgments of God's 
goodness with the places and times of his be- 
stowments. 



N 



EW YEAR.. How much God has to do 
for you this year ! Begin it with him. 



152 BROADCAST. 

ON revisiting places, where God was 
good to us, in preserving, helping, 
comforting, and in various ways blessing us. 
"And let us arise and go up to Bethel, and 
I will make there an altar unto . God, who 
answered me in the day of my distress, and 
w T as with me in the way which I went." 
Sadness in memory of the past should not 
keep us from doing this. 



IN great bodily pain or mental distress, we 
are instructed how to vent our groans, 
and on whom to call, by these words of the 
Most High : " And they have not cried unto 
me with their heart when they howled upon 
their beds." 



F 



ANCY yourself with men of the Bible, 
comparing your opportunities with theirs. 



BROADCAST. 153 

THEY who love and worship the Holy- 
Spirit are deeply interested in the be- 
lief of judicious critics, that by the " seven 
spirits which are before his throne," is desig- 
nated some infinite mystery concerning the 
Holy Spirit, concerning which, indeed, it is in 
vain to inquire, but the unfolding of which 
hereafter will excite our wonder and love with 
regard to him beyond expression. 



U \ ^^ ^^ tQ °k Dagon and set him in 
ill his place again." Men sometimes re- 
peat the sins and follies for which they had 
been signally humbled and chastised. 



H 



EIRS of heaven get a larger " earnest 
of their inheritance " than heirs of rich 



men. 

7* 



154 BROADCAST. 

IT is a beautiful illustration of the nature 
of faith, that, though we speak so often 
to God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and 
have no audible or sensible reply, we continue 
to pray. We should not long address a fellow- 
creature without sopie response. But we are 
answered, and are made to feel that we are ; — - 
not always at the time of praying, — for that 
might weaken faith. 



IF you so love Christ whom you have not 
seen, how must it be when you see him ? 
Your eternity is to be an eternity of loving 
and being loved. 



U \ ^^ a &F e2L ^ company of the priests 
J~jL were obedient to the faith." We 
must not despair of conversions among the 
ecclesiastics of erroneous systems. 



BROADCAST. 155 

THE key note of preaching should be 
Salvation, as it is that of the Gospel, 
and all we say should be governed accord- 
ingly. " For God hath not appointed us to 
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." 



U Tfjj^OR none might enter into the king's 
JL gate clothed in sackcloth." Esther iv. 
2. Would that we could spiritualize this rule 
at the gate of mercy and at the gate of the 
Lord's house. 



JOSEPH was two years old or less when 
his mother died. He surely could not 
have succeeded better in life had she lived 
to train him. God does not need even a 
mother in fulfilling his gracious purposes to 
a child of his covenanted love. 



. 






156 BROADCAST. 



" T? CCLESIASTES " is > much of i*» the 

M J moody reflections of a man troubled 
with the mysteries of Divine Providence. Some 
passages in the writings of the able and elo- 
quent John Foster remind one of this book. 
Parnell's " Hermit " may profitably be read 
on this subject. 



THERE is only one affection in which 
there is no danger of excess, and that 
is Love to God. Everything else may be in- 
ordinate and hurtful ; but that which is best 
of all may be indulged without limitation or 
fear. 



INTOLERANCE is laid down by the 
Apostle as a sign of being in the wrong. 
" But as then he that was born after the 
flesh persecuted him that was born after the 
Spirit, even so it is now." 



BROADCAST. v lo7 

EVERY future hour will have its own 
duty, sorrow, care ; how then can you 
postpone the duty of the present hour, which 
is, to repent, and so burden a future hour with 
it, which will be sufficiently occupied with its 
own urgent concern ? Men of business know 
how wrong this is in their private affairs. 



SEE the effect of one angel on the Ro- 
man guard at the tomb of Christ. 
"And for fear of him the keepers did shake, 
apd became as dead men." Hence, when 
" the Son of Man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him," well is 
it said, "then shall he sit upon the throne 
of his glory." 



B 



E " wise to do good." Invent ways, 
create means, find subjects. 



158 BROADCAST. 

« yi ND had a wall great and high." AH 
jLJl these emblems of heaven must of 
course be in keeping with the nature of the 
place. If so, it may properly be asked, What 
need of a wall round about heaven, if heaven 
be not in any sense exclusive ? Whom will 
there be to shut out, if all are saved ? And if 
all are saved, why need they be shut in ? 



WHENEVER we detect any evil thing 
in us, let us act toward it as we do 
toward an eruption, or a disease, or a damage 
threatening the house. 



THE Holy Spirit made the Bible for his 
chief instrument in his official work. 
He took sixteen centuries in which to do it, 
from Moses to John. 



BROADCAST. 159 

THERE are many commands in the Old 
Testament from God himself to love 
Him, — not invitations, nor permissions, nor 
exhortations, but commands, enforced by the 
most solemn injunctions and penalties. This 
may be a relief to those who fear to approach 
God with their affections. 



WHAT if, ages hence, we should be 
summoned, for the first time, to eat 
the flesh and drink the blood of Him whom 
we shall have known as our final Judge. 
What a sacrament that would be ! We do it 
now, in anticipation. What a sacrament this 
will hereafter seem to have been ! 



D 



EATH made Pharaoh give up his bond- 
men and his jewels. 



160 BROADCAST. 

SOME who are convinced and persuaded 
neglect, and sometimes refuse, to make a 
Christian profession, for the reason that a friend 
is believed to have died without a Christian 
hope. To embrace a certain faith will seem 
to be a condemnation of the friend. " If he is 
lost, I prefer to be lost with him ! " Perhaps, 
however, in his last hours, unknown to you, 
he accepted that Gospel which you, for his 
sake, reject, and so he may be saved, and 
you, by loving him more than Christ, may be 
forever separated from both. 



THE life of Christ was a life of incidents. 
Let us be willing that ours should be 
so, meeting each as he did. Then we shall 
always have something to do, and be saved 
from that aimless, listless condition . which is 
the bane of Christian character and usefulness. 
We shall also be kept from uselessly looking 
out for some great good to accomplish. 



BROADCAST. 161 

U \ ^^ ^ e t00 ^ ^ ie ^lind man by the 
JT^. hand, and led him out of the town." 
Perhaps the excitement of being cured in 
public would have been inconsistent with the 
circumstances of the patient. If so, see the 
Divine regard to circumstances, even in a 
miracle. We must regard means, and adapt 
ourselves to circumstances, not relying on 
Divine pow r er for preternatural help. When 
this blind man was cured, he was sent to 
his own house, and was forbidden to go into 
the town. If we neglect the use of proper 
means, we must cast no blame on God. 



66 1 ■ "\HY gentleness hath made me great." 
JL " God knows how to encourage, to 
help us on, " gently lead " us ; whereas 
harshness and violence, with impatience, frus- 
trate the best designs. The Bible has the 
only true standard and rules of education. It 
is a book for parents. 



162 BROADCAST. 

WHEN some new system in religion 
is broached, or a popular delusion 
springs up, they who are carried away by 
them are those who never knew by experi- 
ence that word of truth and wisdom, " It is 
a good thing that the heart be established 
with grace." We need so to instruct the 
people in systematic divinity that they will be 
furnished with defences against cunningly de- 
vised fables and winds of doctrine. 



THE intrepid conduct of Jonathan and 
his armor-bearer had a wonderful effect 
in turning the tide of war in favor of Israel ; 
so that, but for Saul's folly, they would have 
almost destroyed the Philistines. See what 
one public-spirited man can do in a church or 
corporation. People need leaders. If but 
one man will show himself efficient and com- 
petent, a host will often follow, who would 
not lead. 



BROADCAST. 163 

SEVERITY, and, much more, unfairness, 
in a judge, mars the effect of justice. 
No doubt the last judgment will so illustrate 
the perfect rectitude of God as to leave not 
the least impression of severity on a good 
mind. Hence holy beings are represented as 
saying, " Alleluia," at the Divine sentence. 
This necessity of so commending himself at 
the great day to the secret approbation of all 
the good, is perhaps referred to when it is 
said of God, " Is God unrighteous that taketh 
vengeance ? God forbid, for how then should 
God judge the world ? " 



U T3^T though he had done so many mir- 
U acles, yet they believed not on him." 
Belief, therefore, does not depend on the 
amount or force of evidence ; nor conviction 
on clearness and power of statement. See 
the reason in the passage from which the 
Evangelist here quotes, Is. vi. 



164 BROADCAST. 

PETER moved that the place of Judas he 
filled. With what feelings must he have 
made that motion. But for the infinite grace 
of his dear Lord, one would also have had 
occasion to move that Peter's place also be 
filled. But being forgiven and restored, we 
cannot but respect Peter for being able " and 
willing to make the motion. Learn some- 
thing from this, distrustful penitent. 



BE not ambitious to be thought very good, 
a saint. This is one of the many forms 
of spiritual pride. Try to feel and do right, 
for its own sake, and to please God. 



GOD, who had just punished Israel fear- 
fully, nevertheless would not let Ba- 
laam curse them. 



BROADCAST. 165 

SOME are not satisfied with those proofs 
which are enough for a well-balanced 
mind. We ought to know when belief is rea- 
sonably demanded, in spiritual things, and not 
be continually seeking for evidence. Two 
hinges, or at most three, are enough for a 
door; but some minds, in requiring evidence, 
are like one who should fill the whole length 
of the door with hinges. 



ONE of the first things which a physi- 
cian says to his patient is, " Let me 
see your tongue." A spiritual adviser might 
often do the same. 



COMMIT to the Blessed Three in One, 
severally, particular wants, sorrows, re- 
quests, which seem related to their several of- 
fices and parts in the work of redemption. 



166 BROADCAST, 

" C^ HALL we be judged twice ? " it is fre- 
k-/ quently asked. " Why should there be 
two judgment-days ? " It is obvious that no 
man's account can be fully made up till his 
influence in this world has wholly ceased ; and 
it will not cease till time is no longer. The 
influence of parents, and preachers, and authors, 
and good and bad men of every description, 
will be transmitted to the last day. Moreover, 
there will be others who will be included in 
the judgment, for good or ill, of every one. 



NOTWITHSTANDING God was angry 
at Israel's demand for a king, yet 
when it was settled, God would have blessed 
their first king, had he obeyed him, as he 
blessed David, the second king. Hence, when 
we have greatly disapproved of a thing, and 
it is done, and established, let us learn from 
our God how to feel and act with regard to 
it. 



BROADCAST. 167 

APPLYING the rule, " By their fruits ye 
shall know them," to the Holy Spirit, 
and contemplating that passage in which " the 
fruits of the Spirit " are declared, and among 
which " love, joy, and peace " are the " first 
fruits," we find in the Holy Spirit an occasion 
for love and adoration in no respect less than 
in the Father and the Son. 



« T)LEAD my cause, God." What an 
1 advocate. Seek him always before ap- 
plying to another. Who has not continually 
some cause for God to plead ? There are 
always some on whose will and decision our 
happiness in a measure depends. 



IT is not best for us in religion always to 
be in raptures. We need absences in our 
friendship with God to try us. 



168 BROADCAST. 

THE written word is far better than the 
Mount of Transfiguration. For what 
did the three disciples do there? They were 
sore afraid, they fell asleep, and they wist 
not what they said. One of them, speaking 
of the scene on the mount, gives the pref- 
erence to the Bible. " We have a more 
sure word of prophecy," says he. 



A LIMB of a peach-tree broken off in 
my friend's garden had a hundred and 
twenty-five peaches on it, nearly ripe. " If 
a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a 
branch, and is withered," — no matter how 
great his apparent usefulness, or his desirable- 
ness to others. 



O 



NE object in our temptations is, to foil 
and afflict the tempter. 



BROADCAST. 169 

k ENOMINATIONAL lines and rules are 
helpful in our imperfect condition, some- 
what like ruled paper. True, theoretically, 
every one should be able to write straight. 
Some, who think that to write on ruled paper 
is not refined, put their own ruled lines under- 
neath their pages. We meet with some who 
are decidedly opposed to denominational dis- 
tinctions, yet they are as strongly attached to 
their own way in religion as those are whom 
they regard as sectarian. They discard the 
common ruled sheet, but are sure to put down 
rules and lines of their own when they write. 



THERE is never a greater longing for 
more than this w r orld can give, than 
in one who is on the very point of receiving 
the utmost wish of the heart. It is a good 
time then for a judicious Christian friend to 
speak of spiritual religion and the favor of 
God. 



170 BROADCAST. 

SNOW-FLAKES are now skilfully copied, 
in their geometrical forms of crystalliza- 
tion, in cuttings of delicate paper. The originals 
are " those marvellous things which we can- 
not comprehend," mentioned by Elihu among 
the great things of God. Yet in March you 
will see in our streets the horses with their 
heavy loads floundering in ditches of miry 
snow, every particle of which, however, as it 
came down from heaven, was a pure crystal, 
each varying from the rest according to Di- 
vine skill. And you will have reflections at 
the sight which it is needless here to specify. 



WE are apt to have a misapprehension 
of the Saviour's power and willingness 
to do better for us than we think, correspond- 
ing with that of the woman of Samaria, when 
she said to Him who made all things, " Sir, 
thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well 
is deep." 



BROADCAST. 171 

THERE is a difference between " throng- 
inn; " Christ, and " touching " him with 
the finger of faith. " The multitude throng 
thee," said the disciples, " and sayest thou 
who touched me ? " " Somebody touched me," 
said Jesus. He knew that touch, amid the 
pressure of the throng. Not one act of faith 
in him is unnoticed or disregarded. 



ON meeting with a striking passage of 
God's word, copy it, and lay it back 
in your Bible. On opening the book some 
time after, you will be greatly cheered and 
comforted on reading that passage in your 
own handwriting. 



WHAT in prayer does God probably 
most regard ? " Behold thou requir- 
est truth in the inward part." 



L72 BROADCAST. 

SOMETHING in Paul's words on one oc- 
casion warrants the belief that, to some 
of his natural feelings, the work of preaching 
was not wholly agreeable. " If I do this 
thing willingly, I have a reward ; but if 
against my will, a dispensation of the Gospel 
is committed unto me." " For necessity is 
laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me if I preach 
not the Gospel." Who would choose, for its 
own sake, to be, professionally, a reprover, a 
constant warning, opposing men's wishes, his 
presence an interruption and restraint, and 
ghostly associations with him dwelling in the 
minds of men ? And yet for the love of souls, 
and for Christ's sake, to say nothing of the 
absolute enjoyments which make the work of 
the ministry the most enviable employment, 
every true minister of Christ will say, with 
Paul, " Neither count I my life dear unto 
myself, that I may finish my course with joy, 
and the ministry which I have received of 
the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the 
grace of God." 



BROADCAST. 173 

A MAN comes into a church when the 
Lord's Supper is administered, and sees 
among the stated communicants one who has 
defrauded him. The adversary of souls seldom 
has a better opportunity to keep any one out 
of heaven, than in the case of this injured and 
justly indignant man. It would be a noble 
triumph of Christian principle, but, alas ! hardly 
to be looked for, if the sight of this dishonest 
man should excite in the other a desire and 
purpose to be, in deed and truth, such a fol- 
lower of Christ as he sees this man is not, 
but should be. The future condemnation of a 
hypocrite will not make perdition less tolerable 
for him who should stumble over this false 
professor into hell. 



" t I "\0 me every knee shall bow." What 
JL bowing of the Jmee will be seen at 
the last day ! Now that it will cost us some- 
thing to bow the knee to Jesus, we do well 
to improve our opportunity. 



174 BROADCAST. 

HEARING the criticisms which some 
make on members of the Church, the 
thought arises, Would that those who have 
such decided views of the Christian life were 
themselves members of the Church, to afford 
us patterns of true Christian excellence ! The 
rules which they lay down, and the exactions 
which they make with regard to Christians, 
will be likely to be produced on their trial 
at the last day. " The servant that knew his 
Lord's will," must expect plain dealing. 



THE way to overcome the fear of dying 
is to understand and practise upon that 
word, — "And whether we die, we die unto 
the Lord." If we think only of ourselves in 
connection with our death, of course we are 
liable to encounter the terrors of death alone ; 
but if we desire that we may " die unto the 
Lord," he will regard our death as connected 
with his honor and glory. 



BROADCAST. 175 

THAT the Old Testament is not sangui- 
nary in spirit, observe that the decora- 
tions of the temple were not any of them 
images or emblems of war. Many things in 
the temple were, on the contrary, of a do- 
mestic nature. Its main representation, its 
" altar-piece," was " the cherubims of glory 
shadowing the mercy-seat." 



ONE impression which the whole Bible 
makes on a thoughtful mind is, that 
God has had exceeding trouble to make this 
world love him, and that he has succeeded as 
yet to a very limited degree. 



THE name of God occurs four times in 
the last two verses of Exodus ii. There 
is great pathos there. 



176 BROADCAST. 

THOUGH we deserve all we suffer, and 
more, yet God, who is rich in mercy, 
gives us sometimes compensatory blessings in 
sorrows. " He stayeth his rough wind in the 
day of his east wind." David knew this fea- 
ture in the gracious dealings of God with us, 
when he said of Shimei, " It may be that 
the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that 
the Lord will requite me good for his curs- 
ing this day." 



IT was one who leaned on Jesus' bosom, 
who was able to ask, more emphatically 
than the rest, who was the traitor. Peter 
beckoned to him for the purpose. The put- 
ting of that question is noted by the writer 
who finished John's Gospel by designating 
John as him who leaned on the Saviour's 
breast at supper, " and said, Lord, which is he 
that betrayeth thee ? " The confidence which 
there is in love controls even our self-distrust. 
" Perfect love casteth out fear." 



BROADCAST. 177 

IF we need to be qualified in heaven for 
some special service of great importance, 
perhaps the preparation will be by some ex- 
ceeding o-reat blessing, as in this world we 
are thus qualified by a very great affliction. 
" Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir- 
tree, and instead of the brier shall come up 
the myrtle-tree." 



WHEN we read, or hear it said, that an 
advocate " appeared " for a party, we 
may be reminded of that passage where it is 
said that Christ has gone into heaven " now to 
appear in the presence of God for us." Our 
case there needs great attention, infinite skill 
and power, and an ever-wakeful interest. 



T 



HERE is a credulity in unbelief which 
surpasses that of the superstitious. 

8* L 



178 BROADCAST. 

THE seal is now put upon all our words 
and deeds in connection with those who 
have died. Those words and deeds recurring 
to the memory, now seem important. We do 
well to live with surviving friends under the 
influence which the recollections of particular 
words and deeds now exert. 



DISPOSITION in children, and in our- 
selves when we see our deficiency, is 
in no way so well cultivated as to see the 
perfect example of it in Christ, and its illus- 
trations in his conduct, and to keep them 
before the mind. 



GOOD parents have a special claim on 
God to support their authority. So 
have upright magistrates. So had the Apos- 
tles in working miracles. 



BROADCAST. 179 

A YOUNG daughter of a friend, when 
she was dying, asked her father to for- 
give certain things which she specified. The 
father did not remember them, and had noth- 
ing, it seemed to him, to forgive. It is, in 
effect, so with God, when we repent. "As 
far as the east is from the west, so far hath 
he removed our transgressions from us." 



" \ ^^ Jesus sat over against the treas- 
JLJl ury." With him for a witness, let us 
order our contributions to his cause aright, 
remembering the scene whicli ensued when 
he took his place on that occasion. 



HEARING one complain that he did not 
know that God had elected him, the 
question was put to him, u Have you 4 elected ' 
God?" 



180 BROADCAST. 

THE manner of Christ's ascension into 
heaven may be said to have been an 
instance of Divine simplicity and sublimity 
combined, which scarcely has a parallel. While 
in the act of blessing his disciples, he was 
parted from them, and was carried up, and 
disappeared behind a cloud. There was no 
pomp ; nothing could have been more simple. 
How can the followers of this Lord and Mas- 
ter rely on pomp and ceremony to spread his 
religion, when he, its founder, gave no counte- 
nance to such appeals to the senses of men ? 
Had some good men been consulted about 
the manner of the ascension, we can imagine 
the result. 



JESUS furnished the technical ground for 
his condemnation. The witnesses had 
not agreed. — " Thou say est that I am " ; or, 
" I am that [which] thou sayest," i. e. a King. 
This was that "good confession." — "I lay 
down my life for the sheep." " No man tak- 
eth it from me, but I lay it down of myself" 



BROADCAST. 181 

WOULD we think it possible that God 
should forgive us before we repent ? 
No, says the theologian, that would violate 
the whole system of truth. Let us adhere to 
well-established systems ; but there is something 
above all systems in this appeal of the Most 
High : " I have blotted out as a thick cloud 
thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. 
Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." 
Here is the image of one approaching another 
with a bond cancelled, and appealing by it 
for the debtor's confidence and love. We do 
this, sometimes, to subdue a man ; why may 
not God deal thus with a sinner ? 



THISTLES should be mowed in a wet 
day, else the thistle-down will " spread 
the seeds. The best time to reprove and to 
correct is, • when the feelings are inclined to 
be penitential. Reproof in times of happiness 
or gladness is apt to perpetuate tlie evil. 



182 BROADCAST. 

" 1 IE hoped also that money should have 
A JL been given him of Paul, that he 
might loose him ; wherefore he sent for him 
the oftener, and communed with him." Poor, 
base man ! never was money looked for from 
a more unlikely source, and never does the 
love of it seem so contemptible as when thus 
brought in contrast with the noble Apostle, 
and the infinite riches which he was commis- 
sioned to bestow. 



A FRIEND had nearly a thousand potted 
plants in his conservatory which were 
rooting. He did not seem to be so much in- 
terested in them as when he came to some 
full-grown heath, and lifted it up, and said, 
" Was there ever such whiteness ? " — Strange 
if God does not love you more when you are 
old than he did when you were young. How 
he has watched, and cultivated, and reared 
you. " And even to your old age I am he, 
and even to hoar hairs I will carry you." 



BROADCAST. 183 

WHAT a scene that must have been of 
which it is said, " When he bring- 
eth in the first-begotten into the world he 
saith, And let all the angels of God worship 
him." Judo-mg from the effect of being su- 
perseded here, it must have been a trial of 
virtue on the part of angels to see one of an 
inferior race exalted to the infinite dignity of 
the incarnation. We were then honored ; our 
nature was promoted ; we are joint-heirs with 
Christ. 



WHAT a position does a preacher oc- 
cupy, — such a congregation attending 
to him, and receiving that which he is led to 
give them, and in silence, with no reply nor 
dispute, and with confidence in him. It should 
make us love those who thus listen to us. 
We must be careful not to abuse our power 
in the Gospel. We must give our best efforts 
and energies to our sermons, in return for the 
privilege of preaching. 



184 BROADCAST. 

IF we knew and could feel as much con- 
cerning God, and Christ, and heaven, as 
we sometimes desire, probably it would make 
us insane. We have seen horticulturists pull 
down the awnings in their greenhouses. Plants 
may sometimes have too much sun ; and so 
may we. 



LOOKING at one of the most extensive 
prospects in this or any land, where 
everything great and beautiful was combined, 
it was affecting to think, — He that made all 
this died for me. 



TO those whose great effort is to be rich 
against the time when they are old, 
the Apostle James may say, "Ye have heaped 
treasure together for the last days," when you 
can enjoy it but little, and only for a little 
while. Were we made for this ? 



BROADCAST. 185 

PERHAPS we do not make enough of 
worship, — public, social, family, private, 
as offerings to God. He expects them, as 
he did ancient oblations. They take the place 
of all those pious acts of acknowledgment 
and adoration, and they are required now, 
through our Great High-Priest, as anciently 
the offerings were made through earthly min- 
isters. " By him, therefore, let us offer the 
sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, 
the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his 
name." Each Christian is a priest unto 
God. " Ye also as lively stones are built 
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to 
offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God 
through Jesus Christ." 



CHRIST never tasted one of the pleas- 
ures of sin. Holy angels never did. 
Souls in heaven never will. Can those pleas- 
ures be essential to happiness ? 



186 . BROADCAST. 

GOD seeks our good opinion of him, 
wishes to be understood, appreciated, 
loved. The Old Testament abounds in proofs 
of this. A collection of passages illustrating 
Divine grief at ill-treatment from men would 
show surpassing pathos. As one instance, — 
in Malachi L, — God comforts himself against 
the wicked Jews by the prospect of repent- 
ing Gentiles. " For from the rising of the 
sun even unto the going down of the same, 
my name shall be great among the Gentiles." 



" 1^3 ^^ w ^ e I am com i n g> another step- 
i-J peth down before me." He makes 
us think, though he was not one of them, of 
those hapless people w T ho are always too late, 
or who lose an advantage, or meet often with 
ludicrous accidents. They are, however, " im- 
potent folk," as to energy and practical wis- 
dom. Their reading should be largely in the 
Book of Proverbs. 



BROADCAST. 187 

ON spending Sabbaths at Cemeteries. 
Better be in the house of God. You 
will be nearer your friends in heaven there 
than at their graves. They are sorry to see 
you at their sepulchres on the Lord's day. 
Do you wish for a good example on this 
point ? Even those who entombed the Lord 
Jesus would not visit his sepulchre on the 
Sabbath. " They returned and prepared 
spices, and rested the seventh day, according 
to the commandment." What an unobjection- 
able thing, it may be said, to have spent that 
Sabbath at the Saviour's tomb. But these 
friends of Jesus were right. They kept the 
unrepealed commandment. 



THE temptations which Satan used with 
Christ in the wilderness were these 
three : Want, Ambition, and Presumption. 
These include many of his present forms of 
assailing men. 



188 BROADCAST. 

THERE is wonderful power in death, 
upon survivors, to subdue animosities, 
to make men gentle toward each other, to 
correct their errors, to moderate their pas- 
sions, to qualify their judgments, to bring in 
thoughts and feelings of a refining power. 
So by the Gospel every curse is used for 
good. 



A SOUL pressing onward and upward to 
heaven through darkness and storms, 
amidst temptations, with growing faith and 
zeal, must be an exceedingly interesting ob- 
ject to those who are now within the veil. 



« T HAVE seen all that Laban doeth unto 
JL thee." So that we never need fear, if 
our cause is just. We may suffer temporary 
hardship, but the end will be peace. 



BROADCAST. 189 

YOU confidently expect to be converted 
and saved. How in heaven will you 
probably wish that you had acted, and when 
have begun to obey the Gospel, and how 
will you wish that you had felt toward the 
Church of Christ and its ordinances, and on 
what principles had used your property, and 
what end in life will it seem that you should 
have had constantly in view ? 



SOME of the ways in which transgressors, 
when detected, try to escape, are, by 
Flight, Force, Bribery, Appeal to Compas- 
sion, Suicide. None of these will avail sin- 
ners at the last. " And they cannot escape." 



S 



UPPOSE that you could overhear Christ 
praying for you in the next room. 



190 BROADCAST. 

HOW shall we feel and act in heaven, 
meeting angels at every turn, and 
great and good men ? and having the Saviour 
look in upon us, and the cloud, as it were, 
descending and resting at the door of our 
mansion ? O to live so here, by faith ! 



u ? | ^O whom shall we go?" said one, in 
A reference to leaving Christ. The 
misery of apostates. To whom can they go ? 
Follow them, trace their dreadful, devious 
ways in search of peace and happiness, which 
they have forever left behind them. 



A FRIEND had it for one of his rules, 
as helping his devotion, to pause in 
what he was doing and offer ejaculatory prayer, 
whenever he heard the clock strike. 



BROADCAST. 191 

GRIEF on the part of " the Holy Spirit 
of God," rather than anger, at the 
sins of those who by him are " sealed to the 
day of redemption," is in beautiful accordance 
with all the representations which are made 
of him, from that similitude of him, "like a 
dove," to that closing word of his in one of 
the last verses of the Bible, " Come." 



IT is kindly said, that while we are kept 
waiting for God, we should hope ; and 
while we are hoping, it is our duty also to 
wait. "It is good for a man that he both 
hope, and quietly wait, for the salvation of 
God." 



WOULD any of us suffer ourselves, like 
Daniel, to be cast into a den of lions 
rather than be prevented from praying ? 



192 BROADCAST. 

FROM tins window in the country I see 
at least a thousand pines, firs, spruces, 
larches, standing close together. They were 
there last year, and the year preceding, and 
have been there for twenty years or more. 
Each is undistinguished from the rest, but 
stands there quietly and patiently. Are we 
willing, if so it pleases God, to be, not " one 
of a thousand," but one in a thousand, satis- 
fied to be anything or anywhere, as it shall 
please God ? 

" My soul, be humble in thy low estate, 
Nor seek nor wish to be esteemed or great ; 
To take th' impressions of a will divine, 
Be this thy glory, and these riches thinc. ,, 



WE must not write bitter things against 
ourselves, nor forebode, nor be expect- 
ing evil, but the contrary, — " knowing that 
ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit 
a blessing." 



BROADCAST. 193 

EVEN the Lord Jesus himself, almighty 
and omniscient, would not " tempt Prov- 
idence " by exposing himself needlessly to 
danger ; but he practised caution, and was 
prudent. " After these things Jesus walked 
in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry, 
because the Jews sought to kill him." 



BLESSED are the dead, for this, as much 
as for anything that can be said of 
them, — " For he that is dead is freed from 
sin." O word of bliss to one who here chieflv 
sought the spiritual interests of a departed 
child or friend : — " They are without fault 
before the throne of God." 



R 



E A D the excuses of those who made 
Israel to sin. 

9 M 



194 BROADCAST. 

AFTER being loved as you are here by 
some, with all the strength and sweet- 
ness of human affection, you are going to be 
loved by One who is almighty and every 
way as infinite in his love as in his power. 
We do not yet know what it is to be loved 
by God, and by the Saviour, and by the 
Blessed Spirit, and by the Three together. 



THE wisdom of not answering our prayers 
at once. It puts us upon self-examina- 
tion, repentance, the use of means, makes us 
wait, and it teaches patience, and has a good 
effect on our consciences. 



PAUL gloried in his " infirmities," more 
than in his " revelations," — to honor 
Christ. 



BROADCAST. 195 

CHRIST is the only one whom the grave 
has yielded to die no more. " The 
first-begotten of the dead." As such he must 
be the object of infinite interest with souls, 
who see in him both the proof of their resur- 
rection and likeness of their future bodies. 



ADVICE to young converts : — Guard 
against despondency at the loss of first 
religious impressions. They are not Christ. 
He is your righteousness, in joy as well as 
in sorrow, in hope as well as in fear. 



UNLESS we have kind feelings toward 
those whom we are obliged to oppose, 
our opposition will hurt ourselves, and perhaps 
more than it hurts them. 



1 196 BROADCAST. 



"TP there had been a law given which could 
X have given life, then righteousness would 
have been by the law." This means, " It is 
utterly impossible for you to be saved by your 
goodness. In the superstructure of a house, 
glass, paints, lime-work, and soft wood are 
indispensable ; but they cannot make a good 
foundation. Our goodness is indispensable ; 
but Jesus Christ is the only foundation. 



WHAT is your expectation ; what are 
you living for ; what is the present 
great aim and end with you ; what would 
make you most happy ? Ascertain this, and 
examine it prayerfully. "And now, Lord, 
what wait I for ? " 



D 



O We ever know " a peace " " which 
passeth all understanding " ? 



BROADCAST. 197 

ONE of the most interesting spectacles, 
perhaps, ever witnessed in heaven, must 
have been the first interview there between 
" Saul, who also is called Paul," and Stephen. 
If we ever indulge the thought as to some of 
the principal objects of interest to us hereafter 
in heaven, we may well place this among 
them, — to behold these two men together. 
What shall we lose, if we lose heaven, full 
as it is of such wonders of love and joy! 



ONE of the chief characteristics of Paul 
is his urbanity. His address, in most 
of his Epistles, in his most common manner 
of speaking to his Christian friends, may al- 
most be likened to the manner of a well-bred 
man toward a lady. This is the more re- 
markable, considering the imperfect character 
and behavior of many to whom he wrote. 
But this mode of address makes his Epistles 
suitable for all times. See 2 Cor. vii. 



! 198 BROADCAST. 

IF but a little of God be so distasteful to a 
sinner, how will it be when he knows 
him more ? If the duties of religion here 
repel him, the eternal employments of heaven 
will be his sorest affliction. There is no 
heaven in the universe to a sinner. " There 
is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 



NO prophet ever preached such terrible 
things as Christ, nor in such terms. 
But love to man blends so with the Saviour's 
words, that they do not shock the mind. 
Learn, that with love to men they will allow 
you to say anything to them. 



SHALL death be to eftch of us " the last 
enemy"? If not, we shall never see 
"the last" of our enemies. 



BROADCAST. 199 ' 

HE who would feel his heart melt within 
him at the infinite kindness of God, 
let him ponder those words in which God tells 
Israel, " When thou art in tribulation, and all 
these things are come upon .thee, then the 
Lord thy God will not forsake thee," &c. 
We should declare it unsafe and injudicious 
to tell one whom we are threatening, that, 
when he has sinned and is in trouble, we will 
certainly be kind to him. " Who is a God 
like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and 
passeth by the transgression of the remnant 
of his heritage?" 



THERE is a moral incapacity, and in 
effect it is equal to natural deficiency. 
It is criminal, for this incapacity relates only 
to spiritual things ; in everything else men 
are not deficient in their apprehensions. But 
for the time it is equal to natural defects. 
" Bring forth the blind that have eyes, and 
the deaf that have ears." 



200 BROADCAST. 

THESE exhibitions of the " Industry of 
all Nations " may remind us of that 
word concerning heaven : u And they shall 
bring the glory and honor of the nations into 
it." If here a knowledge of foreign parts en- 
larges our ideas, — recollecting old Homer's 
eulogium of his hero as one who had " seen 
many men and knew their mind," — the end- 
less types of character and the boundless vari- 
ety of personal qualities and accomplishments 
in heaven, its natural scenery surpassing all 
the distinctive features of every grand and 
beautiful region here, will be to the inhab- 
itants of this world in heaven a transcendent 
means of enjoyment and progress. 



FEW things give greater peace, than to 
recollect how in times of great sorrow 
and trial we were patient, prayerful, loving, 
and faithful. God was a witness to it. 
"Thou hast known my soul in adversities." 



BROADCAST. 201 

A WRITTEN revelation is an incompar- 
able blessing. Is not the cry of sub- 
jects everywhere for a constitution, * some- 
thing written, not the will of a sovereign, 
nor prescription, but the rights and duties 
of sovereign and subject in black and white? 
The Bible is to us like a written constitu- 
tion ; we can take it home, we can consult 
it when we please, quote from it, appeal to 
it. God graciously binds himself by it. Of 
all the modern heresies, none is more con- 
trary to human experience than the rejec- 
tion of a written Word, and the proposed 
substitution of human conscience and the 
moral sentiments as our guide. We hear 
and read many things designed to ridicule 
the idea of " a revelation from heaven shut 
up between the covers of a book." Blessed 
be God that his will and our duty may be 
thus conveniently possessed. 



202 BROADCAST. 

" W T^ 01 ^ * sha11 see for m y self > and not 

T T another," said Job of his Redeemer. 
I am " to see Christ. No one will interpose 
between us, in any way, or for any purpose. 
It will be personal intercourse with Him who 
has searched me and known me. What influ- 
ence shall this expectation now exert? 



"QHARPNESS" may sometimes be for 
\<D " edification," 2 Cor. xiii. It should be 
employed, if at all, for that purpose, and 
never for " destruction." 



A MOST excellent Christian lady, to 
whom it was an effort to lead in 
prayer, once said, "It always puts strength 
in me when I hear any one decline to 
pray. 



BROADCAST. 203 

IF we shall have rapturous love to our Re- 
deemer in heaven, is there none in this 
world ? There surely is, for Christ is now 
all which he will be in heaven, and Christians 
have the same spiritual affections which they 
will then possess. We little know what is 
passing in the heart of that Christian friend 
who sits at our side in the house of God. 
If the history of each secret place of prayer 
could be divulged, we should think some- 
times that heaven is not " the land which is 
very far off." 



"TT THEN Jesus therefore perceived that 
T ? they would come by force and 
make him a king, he departed again into a 
mountain, himself alone." His probable re- 
flections there at the contrast of his own 
ingdom with that poor principality to which 
he might have been appointed. Thus when the 
world solicits us, let us as Christians remem- 
ber how much better a possession we have 
than the world can give or take away. 



204 BROADCAST. 

U \ ^^ ^ e manna c ease d on the morrow 
-ZjL after they had eaten of the old corn 
of the land." Departed Christian friends 
have ceased to need the ordinances which 
sustained and cheered them here. At once 
and forever the productions of the heavenly- 
Canaan became theirs. 



A GERMAN princess, Maria Dorothea, 
(let her name live with her saying,) 
took leave of a Christian missionary 
with these words : " Chris- 
tians never part for 
the last time. 
Adieu." 




Index 



Aaron and Moses of one family, 
93. 

" Abide in me," 168. 
Ability, on preaching it, 127. 
Abram and the king of Sodom, 

86. 
" Accepted in the beloved," 17. 
Admonish, who may? 149. 
Adversary, on having one, 105. 
Advice to a king, 82. 

" to vouna: converts, 195. 
"Afraid of God,'' 28. 
"A God to thee," 99. 
Agreement of sects, 147. 
Alliances with the bad, 32. 
All things made for Christ, 128. 
Always do right, 62. 
Ambition to be thonght good, 

164. 
" And the prisoners heard them," 

60. 
" An excellent Christian," 120. 
Angels anticipate us, 96. 
u not effeminate, 69. 
" worshipping Christ, 183. 
Apostates, their misery, 90. 
Appearances of Christ in the 

Old Testament, 117. 
"Appearing" for us, 177. 
Arab race, 146. 

Ark, a strange protection, 130. 
Ascension of Christ, 180. 
Ashtaroth, or the favored sin, 

100. 



" Asleep on a pillow," 135. 
Assurance as evidence, 32. 
Atonement for present sins, 132. 
Atonement proceeding, 88. 
Aurora of 1859, 44. 

Bashfulness a snare, 38. 
" Beauty and Bands," 102. 
Begin early to fear God^ 98. 
Begin with love, 31. 
Behemoth an emblem, 89. 
Believing and speaking, 77. 
Belshazzar not bid to repent, 129. 
Belshazzar's sins, 124. 
Bible an anchorage, 14. 

" and visions, 201. 

" is catholic, 111. 

" fearless of cavil, 22. 
Billingsgate and Gehenna, 45. 
Boaz a picture of happiness, 131. 
Bright light in the clouds, 92. 

Calmness in divine justice, 63. 
Canaan, selection of, 146. 
" Chariots of iron," 100. 
Cheerfulness after repentance, 

122. 
Christ a judge of character, 94. 

" and strangers, 136. 

" an example of prudence, 
193 

k< before Pilate, 180. 

" faithful to his trust, 103. 

44 in common things, 136. 



206 



INDEX. 



Christ in danger of a crown, 202. 
" in the house, 61. 
" in the ship, 59. 
" in the stead of Adam, 128. 
" more severe than proph- 
ets, 198. 
" praying for you, 189. 
" feedeemer of the Church, 

30. 
" the first-fruits, 195. 
Christ's blood has a cry, 74. 

" social pleasures, 143. 
Christians and heathens com- 
pared, 79. 
Church quarrels, 18. 
Clinging to Christ, 75. 
Coincidences, 145. 
Comforter, the world has none, 

111. 
Compensations, 176. 
Confidence in prayer, 106. 
Conquering by faith, 134. 
Conversion of ecclesiastics, 154. 
Conversion, its effect on others, 

13. 
Copy striking passages, 171. 
Cornelius's and Peter's visions, 

88. 
Count the cost, 108. 
Country, .our, its dependence, 

110. 
Covenant with ministers, 115. 
Covetous, not recovered, 109. 
Covetousness, what is it ? 112. 
Credulity of unbelief, 177. 
Criticisms returning upon us, 

174. 
Curing evils, 158. 

Dagon set up again, 153. 
Daniel's advice to a king, 82. 
Daniel's discretion, 87. 
David inquires in famine, 39. 
David's parentage, 72. 
David's psalms after his fall, 46. 
Day of judgment, comfort from, 

39. 
Dead, freed from sin, 193. 
Declining to pray, 202. 
Deity of Christ, a corner-stone, 

31. 



Deity of Christ, a solvent for 

doubts, 40. 
Despondency, cure for, 27, 139. 
Disposition, how formed, 178. 
Dreams will be surpassed, 149. 

Earth viewed from other worlds, 
39. 

Ecclesiastes, 156. 

Education of conscience, 65. 

Election, 179. 

Elijah declines his translation, 
27. 

Elisha and Hazael, 19. 

End of a trial, 150. 

Ephraim Syrus, 71. 

Established with grace, 162. 

Every one shall pray, 87. 

" Every knee shall bow," 173. 

Everything changed at conver- 
sion, 137. 

Escapes, 145. 

Excuses of tempters, 193. 

Faith in a translator, 144. 
Fallen angels first mentioned, 

135. 
Father of Eedemption, 61. 
Fearing God, 28. 
Fear in religion, 78. 
Fear of death, 174. 
" Few," a word of honor, 24. 
Field of grain, an emblem, 144. 
Fir-trees for thorns, 177. 
First duty in affliction, 51. 
First-fruits of his creatures, 97 
Foiling the tempter, 168. 
Food and raiment, 138. 
Forbearance, 51. 
Foreboding evil, 192. 
Forgetfulness of benefits, 85. 
Free agents governed, 33. 
Fruit of suffering, 48. 
Future company of the good, 

190. 
Future happiness unmixed, 7. 
Future punishment, apologizing 

for, 29. 

Gentleness makes great, 161. 
Glorified friends, 87. 



INDEX. 



207 



God, a preacher's chief end, 16. 

u a Rock, 101. 

" appeals for judgment, 119. 

" as final Judge, 163. 

" beforehand with us, 181. 

" considers wickedness, 112. 

" does not need us, 17. 

" fails to win sonie, 175. 

u fills vacated hearts, 140. 

" in wicked hands, 147. 

" is light, 91. 

" jealous for his people, 164. 

" misses our gifts, 102. 

" our example, 84. 

" our standard, 126. 

" pardons for his own sake, 
21. 

" past finding out, 96. 

" sees others harm us, 188. 

" seeks to be loved, 186. 

" upholds parents, 178. 

" your rereward, 8. 
God's earnest promises, 76. 

" particular knowledge, 76. 

" silence painful, 42. 

" sinning people defended, 
13. 
Godliness requires effort, 35. 
God-man, 40. 
Going from Christ, 40. 
Good influence of deaths, 188. 
Good kingdom, 148. 
Good men all sinners, 94. 
Grandeur of Christ's coming, 43. 
Graves an emblem, 24. 
Growing Christians, 77 
Guileless, 124. 

Haman and *he horse, 92. 
Hapless people, 186. 
Have you a heaven? 198. 
Have you a last enemy? 198. 
Having a heart for anything, 34. 
Hard cases, 89. 
Hazael, 19. 
Heaven better unseen here ; 10. 

" illustrated, 10. 

M walled, 158. 

" heirs of, the best heirs, 
153. 
" He hath borne our griefs," 95. 



" He will be our guide," 203. 
High-Priest's inquiries, 127. 
Hinderances to conversion, 104. 
Holy Spirit, his grief, 191. 
" " in baptism, 120. 
" " judged by his fruits, 

167. 
" " made the Bible, 106, 

158. 
" " selects ministers, 103. 
11 " sins against, heinous,. 
82. 
Holy Spirit's foresight of our 
wants, 97. 
" " future influen- 

ces, 109. 
Home influence on prodigals, 49. 
Hopeless deaths, 125. 

" mourners, 121. 
Hope and wait, 191. 
House in ruins, 142. 
Human nature joined with De- 
ity, 25. 
Human race and angels, sinning, 
107. 

Identification with Christ, 128. 

" I have prayed for thee," 15.* 

Imitation of good men, 96. 

Importuning in prayer, 14. 

Imprecations otner than Da- 
vid's, 100. 

Incapacity of sinners, 199. 

In Christ, as safe as he, 97. 

" In Christ's stead," 28. 

Incidental doctrinal proofs, 121. 

Incidental wisdom from Christ, 
140. 

Incidents make up life, 160. 

Infirmities and revelations, 194. 

Instincts, incompetency of, 58. 

Intolerance a proof of error, 156. 

" I pray not for the world," 78. 

Iron gates, 99. 

Irrecoverable falls, 30. 

Israel a lesson for us, 11. 

Jealousy for God, 75. 
Jehoshaphat, 32. 
Jehovah's name made known, 
21. 



208 



INDEX. 



Jesus at the " treasury," 179. 

Joab's generalship, 116. 

Job's '' change," 44. 

" description of the vile, 47. 
u present views of trials, 48. 
" scorn, 96. 

John mistakes a saint for an an- 
gel, 87. 

John's question at the Supper, 
176. 

John's quick eye, 15. 

Jonah fleeing from God, 57. 

Judas " knew the place," 53. 
" repenting, 67. 

Judgments under the Gospel, 99. 

Key-note of preaching, 155. 
Kind feelings in controversy,195. 

Labor for the Church, 83. 
Labor to enter that rest, 66. 
Lambs and their antitype, 70. 
Last charge on Sinai, 111. 
Law satisfied with believers, 60. 

" sprinkled With blood, 89. 
Leaving Egypt in vain, 138. 
Leaving this world forever, 150. 
Efeft to be tried, 141. 
" Let me see your tongue," 165. 
Liberality in false worship, 110. 
Life a failure, 64. 
Life viewed from heaven, 189. 
Like begets like, 73. 
Limiting Christ, 170. 
Long suffering and doctrine, 35. 
Lord's Supper in the retrospect, 

159. 
Losing a friend, an excuse, 160. 
Love and kindness, 26. 
Loved by God, 194. 
"Love his appearing," 131. 
" Love mercy," 59. 
Love the living, 178. 
Love to God commanded, 159. 
Love to the chastened, 73. 
Loving and being loved, 154. 
Luxurious piety, 62. 
Make more of worship, 185. 
" Make it a well," 38. 
Maker and Saviour, 184. 
Manners in piety, 33. 



Mark faithful with Peter, 113. 
Marvel at unbelief, 1*08. 
Mary's sick brother, 16. 
Means regarded in miracles, 161. 
" Meddling with God," 23. 
Mediatorship ended, 47. 
Meetings jn perdition, 132. 
" Mercy " to ministers, 146. 
Ministers as workmen, 80. 

" spectators at last, 104. 
Miracles wisely withheld; 100. 
Misanthropic Christians, 37. 
Miscellaneousness of Scripture, 

86. 
Moderation encouraged, 93. 
Modesty of greatness, 19. 
Money from Paul, 182. 
Morality in religion, 36. 
Motherless young children, 155. 
Mother of Christ, 95. 
Muse and work, 81. 

Naomi's, advice, 108. 

Nations losing the true religion, 

50. • 
New Testament prophecies, 63. 
New Year, 151. 
Noah's preaching and small ark, 

12. 
No final escape, 189. 
None disappointed at being 

saved, 112. 
Nothing to forgive, 179. 
Nothing too hard for God, 136. 

Obligation and ability, 127. 
Obtaining promises, 9. 
Old age serene, 131. 
Old Christians, 70, 182. 
" Old corn of the land," 204. 
" Old man," 85. 

Old Testament and the Jew, 20. 
On being a warning, 18. 
One angel, power of, 151. 
One indignity to Christ, 141. 
One in a thousand, 192. 
Only one safe love, 156. 
Opportunities compared, 152. 
Opportunities to be saved, 28, 
" Other foundation," 196. 
•' Other men labored," 78. 



INDEX. 



209 



Others made beacons, 30, 84. 
Overhearing prayer, 95. 

Painful answers to prayer, 125. 
Pardoned, 90. 
Pathos, instance of, 175. 
Paul, a humbled Pharisee, 76. 

u and Stephen, 197. 

" forsaken," 117. 

" not believed, 120. 

" on preaching, 172. 

" translated, 101. 
Paul's "I lie not," 26. 

li social nature, 117. 

14 urbanity, 197. 
Peace and holiness, 98. 
Peace of God, 196. 
Peaceful recollections, 200. 
Penitent thief righteous, 148. 
People need leaders, 162. 
Perfection, 22, 114. 
Perfectness recognized, 117. 
Persons and goods, 86. 
Peter and Judas repenting, 67. 
Peter's motion about Judas, 164. 
Pharaoh gives up to death, 159. 
Phenomenal Christians, 80. 
Picture of the sinner's com- 
pany, 47. 
Pietism, 116. 

Pile-driving in the mind, 114. 
Places of blessings, 151. 
" Plead my cause," 167. 
Pleasing God, 25. 
Pleasure of God at goodness, 83. 
Pleasures of sin, 48, 185. 
Prayer an educator, 58. 
" in emergencies, 142. 
" of Christ in agony, 94. 
" and den of lions, 191. 
Praving and no response, 154, 

194. 
Praving to the Three in One, 

165. 
Preacher's position, 183. 
" Prepare a place for you," 43. 
Preparing to meet God, 64. 
Preserver of men sinned against, 

107. 
Private sectarianism, 169. 
Procrastination, 157. 



Proof of God's love, 71. 
Prosperity, way to, 107. 
Promise to sinners, 199. 

Quiet usefulness, 72. 

Raptures in religion, 167. 
Rainy-day sermons, 37. 
Receive more from God, 68. 
Reflection on human nature, 63. 
Regeneration not development, 

19. 
Religion friendly to pleasure, 19. 
Religion of the head and heart, 

41. 
Removal of good men. 145. 
Repentance defined, 122. 

" needs atonement, 

147. 
Representative guilt, 118. 
Requital at being cursed, 93. 
Resurrection in the book of Job, 
44. 
'" of the body, 10. 

" while we live, 42. 

Reverence in love, 149. 
Revisiting scenes of goodness, 

152. 
Rewards a good motive, 23. 
u are mercy, 45. 
11 must follow goodness, 
90. 

Sabbath and Sinai, 111. 
Sabbath-morning thoughts, 59. 
Sabbaths anticipated, 42. 

u at cemeteries, 187. 

" future witnesses, 73* 
Sackcloth prohibited, 155. 
Salvation most free, 115. 
Samson's birth and life 133. 
Satan resisted, 134. 
Satan's reflections on Job. 70 
Satisfaction with proofs, 165. 
Saul and free agency, 67. 
Saved from sins here, 143. 
Sceptical thoughts, 32. 
Scripture helps m trouble, 132. 
Secret follower of Christ, 21. 
Secret sins, 100. 
Seed of evil-doers, 81. 



210 



INDEX. 



Seeking Christ at his tomb, 8. 

Seeming success, 87. 

Self-complacent bliss, 36. 

Self-respect, 65. 

Set apart for God, 122. 

" Seven spirits before the 

throne," 153. * 
Shame removed, 83. 
Sharpness, when proper, 202. 
Sight of a crowd, 9. 
Signal for prayer, 190. 
" Sin not unto death," 72. 
Sincerity in praying, 171. 
Sincerity in God, 79. 
Singing at the Supper, 116. 
Sinning after blessings, 50. 

" against warnings, 10. 
Sins changing to blessings, 88. 
" Sleep in Jesus," 12. 
" Small ship " for Christ, 64. 
Snow-flakes, 170. 
Solomon, his choice, 83. 

" forgets God, 50.. 
Spiritual ignorance, 41. 
" Stones of the place," 113. 
Stumbling-block, 173. 
Sublime truths common, 34. 
Submission to bitter trial, 118. 
Success and goodness, 7. 
Suffering well, 15. 
Sustaining grace Constant, 126. 

Temple ornaments peaceful, 175. 
Theologv must be practical, 46. 
The " Three," 119. 
Think daily of Christ, 75. 
" Thou wilt,make all his bed," 

11. 
" Though thou be little," 68. 
Three men at the gate, 130. 
Three forms of temptation, 187. 



"Thronging" and "touching" 

Christ, 171. 
Time to reprove, 181. 
Too much light, 184. 
Treasure for the last days, 184 
Truthfulness, 92. 
Two judgment days, 166. 
Two thirds of God eclipsed, 105. 
Two visions of two men, 88. 

Unbelief against evidence, 163. 

" a heinous sin, 49. 

" gently rebuked, 139. 
Unexpected perdition, 124. 
Unsatisfied desire, 169. 
Unseen world near, 113. 
Unstudied allusions to Christ. 

118. 
Unthought-of relief, 139. 

Visit, power of a, 29. 

Waking in the morning, 74. 
Warnings ineffectual, 125. 
" Water and blood," 127. 
Wearying God with sins, 134. 
Weeping, two kinds, 67. 
Weighed in the balances, 129. 
"What wait I for?" 196. 
Whole household perishing, 130. 
" Whom having not seen," 202. 
" Whom I shall see for myself," 

203. 
Why do you suffer? 39. 
" Wise to do good," 39. 
Witnesses of us, 188. 
Wonders to be expected, 137. 
Worldly hunger, 169. 
Written word and visions, 168. 

Yielding to circumstances, 166. 



^|f> 



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